November 23, 2006
Whoops! We missed a few years! Sorry about that. When we committed to creating all the content on our website ourselves, we did not allow for the realities of a busy life. Some of our news is old, some new. Here goes:
Teaching: We have been trying for years to find the time to start teaching again. We both love doing it, but the last 19 years of touring have made it impossible, and we have missed it a lot. It's finally going to happen in 2007. We will set aside some time between tours to accept private students in Menlo Park, CA (near San Francisco). This will first happen during much of the first quarter of 2007, and again possibly in June and/or August. Soon we will have a link on our home page with complete information, including places to stay if you're coming from out of town. Meanwhile, if you are interested, please email us at info@tuckandpatti.com, and include the word "teaching" or "lesson" in your subject. We'll get back to you as the time approaches.
"Vocal Midwifery": Patti is also committed to working with singers who are preparing to record to help them realize their best performances. They can also arrange to record their vocal tracks in our studio.
Performing: We get more and more grateful that we get to do what we do, even more so that we get to do it together. And we're still getting better at it. We recently celebrated 28 years of playing together and 25 of marriage! A tip: It goes by very fast, especially when you're looking back, so savor it all, including the parts you're not so fond of.
DVD: Our first DVD is "Live In Holland." In addition to a full-length concert, it includes a beautiful one-hour documentary. We held off on listing it on this site for a while, because it was not available all over the world. It is currently available in Europe and Asia on Universal, but not yet in the US except as an import.
CD: Our next CD will be our take on the Great American Songbook. We've been talking about doing this for years. We're taking requests! Let us know what you'd like to hear, but do it quickly, because we'll finish recording it very soon.
Our busy lives: For several years big projects have eaten up every available minute outside of our touring and recording lives. The post-production on the DVD was unbelievably time-consuming due to lots of technical complications, but rewarding because it came out so well. Then we spent a year creating a new live mixing system, reducing everything that used to fill a big rack into an oversized briefcase we can carry on the plane. Because of the extreme miniaturization and customization, it took as long to design and execute as our entire recording studio did. At one point you could almost see the smoke coming out of Tuck's ears!
Speaking of the studio, we just finished a major upgrade, which took an additional year and a half of full-time work, squeezed in between road trips. Previously we only recorded there. Now we've turned it into our dream mixing and mastering room. At the same time we've been remodeling our home. This has been Patti's full-time design project while Tuck was upgrading the studio. Now it's coming to an end, too. It is the last of the big projects that have dominated our lives and exercised our minds for the last several years. Soon we can get back to spending most of our time on recording, touring and teaching again.
Life in general: It is a precious, unique journey. We hope the same for you.
Love,
Tuck and Patti
November 15, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving! Watch for new update in the next few days.
October 6, 2004
Sorry, we've been so busy that we have not been updating this page regularly. Here is the bio (written by Bob Doerschuk) for our newest CD:
Tuck & Patti's latest album, A Gift Of Love, is all about ... love.
That's your cue to say, "So ... what Tuck & Patti album isn't?"
Good point, but consider: The process of choosing this assortment of familiar and somewhat surprising songs actually began with their fans, as their expression of affection for the celebrated duo.
And while these performances do cross all cultural borders, the fact that they took shape in the hearts of their many fans in Japan explains why A Gift Of Love has a kind of purity, if not innocence, that stands out even in the Tuck & Patti catalog.
The breezy bossa treatment of "Close to You," the starry wonder of "Up On The Roof," the galloping swing of "Hold Me Tight and Don't Let Go," the extraordinary interpretation of Queen's "I Was Born To Love You," the aching introspection of Tuck's solo guitar on "Just The Way You Are," the elegant delicacy of keyboards and cello on several tracks — all reflect something beyond the material itself.
It's that smile, that touch of hands, that affection that swims in a lover's eyes, that magic that can't be captured in words, that inhabits each moment of A Gift Of Love — and the story behind its presence on this CD says a lot about the feeling that flows between Tuck & Patti and their listeners.
Rewind to December 2002. Singer Patti Cathcart and her husband, guitarist Tuck Andress, are on tour in Japan. They've been frequent visitors since they began recording together in the late eighties. During that time they've developed friendships with many of their fans as well as a strong working relationship with Pony Canyon, their Japanese distributor from their years on Windham Hill up to the most recent releases on their own T&P label.
"We were talking with Masa Fukumoto, the head of A&R at Pony Canyon," Tuck remembers. "We wanted to do something special for our friends in Japan, so we were brainstorming ideas. He suggested doing something they could release on Valentine's Day. We thought that would be sweet, and we knew that his sense of reaching people's hearts in Japan was right on."
To make this project as personal as possible, Tuck and Patti reached a decision: In addition to canvassing Pony Canyon for favorites, at their concerts they invited their audiences to email their requests for songs they'd like to hear on an album intended as A Gift Of Love. The response, Patti admits, caught them by surprise.
"There were rock songs, Rolling Stones songs — they went all over the map," she laughs. "Some of them were songs I've always wanted to do, like 'Close To You.' But others, like 'I Was Born To Love You,' came completely out of left field."
She and Tuck pared the most frequent requests down to a selection of songs that spoke strongly to them. Then, adding their own personal element to the project, they chose several more that hadn't turned up among the requests. "People there didn't really know about 'Up On The Roof' or 'Hold Me Tight,'" Patti says. "So by adding those titles A Gift Of Love became more of a group effort."
"Up On The Roof" also illustrates one major departure for Tuck & Patti in that, like several other tracks on A Gift Of Love, the arrangement expands beyond their usual duo format. Once they had returned to their home near San Francisco they called keyboardist and arranger Frank Martin, whose credits include work with Stevie Wonder, Sting and Angela Bofill, and Joseph Hebert, who has played cello on albums by Santana, Suzanne Ciani and other artists. Their contributions would slip into the T&P sound, enhancing it so gracefully that they invited Martin to join them on a later concert swing through Japan.
"Frank listens so sensitively," Patti says. "Sometimes when he's playing with Tuck they weave together so well that you can't tell who is playing which part. And Joseph is a master at blending in with a sampled string part and making it sound authentic and even more beautiful."
As always, Tuck and Patti recorded the duo tracks live in their home studio. Each of the group tracks began at their home studio, talking and jamming with Frank until the arrangement took shape. They were then recorded at San Francisco's Different Fur, with Martin joining in on "Up On The Roof," "Sukiyaki," "Lovin' You" and "Close To You"; all were first takes. Martin recorded most of the string parts live, as well. Hebert provided the finishing touches after that. "Frank wrote the cello parts based on what we'd already recorded," Tuck says, "so it has the loose, improvisatory quality of the three of us playing together."
In February 2003 A Gift Of Love received its Japanese release. Its strong reception prompted Universal to offer it to the European market, too. With its American debut on July 20, 2004 the story comes full circle, and what was conceived as an exchange of affection between these artists and their public in Japan becomes an offering to the world — but with it there comes a lesson.
"Patti sometimes talks about how here in America a lot of people seem apologetic when they talk about love," Tuck says. "Whether it's romantic love or love as a solution to world problems, they need to qualify and excuse themselves. In Japan there's a greater innocence about it. And since love is so important to our music, and since, as the years have gone by, we've become increasingly less jaded and more innocent by virtue of the fact that we spend so much time meditating on love through our music, we've come to see it as an essential quality, not just something trivial that you can spread on top of something that's more essential."
"That's not just a theory," Patti adds. "Our friends in Japan gave us the spark to do this record, and now it is spreading all over the world. It's a sweet reminder of how much we all long for love."
That's more than enlightenment, more even than music you'll not soon forget. That's A Gift Of Love, simple and pure, to us all.
August 1, 2002
We are happy to announce the release of our new CD, "Chocolate Moment," on
August 6!
This is also the debut CD on our new label, T&P Records. This is a very
exciting time for us; it is the realization of a long time dream of owning
our own masters, so we are asking for your support to help us make T&P
Records a great success.
T&P Records will be distributed in the US by 33rd Street Records. They are
owned by Tower Records, so in the US you will find Chocolate Moment
prominently on sale at all Tower stores. They will also be distributing the
CD to other retail outlets.
T&P Records will be distributed in Japan and throughout Asia by Pony Canyon.
We are still negotiating our distribution deals in Europe, Australia, New
Zealand and other territories; we will let you know as they become finalized.
We have had many requests that we sell CDs directly online. Now you will
also be able to buy the new CD, as well as all of our other CDs, directly
from our website. So it should be easy for you to buy many copies of
Chocolate Moment, and we hope you do!
Taping: We have had so many requests over the years from people wanting to
tape a show. We are happy to announce that you now have our permission to do
so. We request that you do this for your personal use or to trade with other
people only, but not to sell them or duplicate in quantity or use them in any
other way that you think would be unfair to us. Sorry, we cannot allow board
tapes, and we ask that you be respectful of the people sitting around you.
Also you must abide by any restrictions the venue may have.
Coming soon: Photos and video snippets of various picking and guitar
techniques by Tuck!
We wrote, arranged, recorded, mixed and mastered Chocolate Moment during six
weeks carved out of our touring schedule in February, March and April, 2002.
It's another all-original album, and Tuck says it's our best work yet.
Patti, who lives in the moment, says it's the best work we did in February,
March and April, 2002! From an audio perspective, we feel we got another
step closer to what we hear in our heads (thanks, Howard Johnston, John
Meyer, George Massenburg, John La Grou, Wyn Morro, Daniel Weiss and Bernie
Grundman!). We really hope you enjoy it.
Two days after we took the album cover pictures, we were on the road again.
In April we were on the East coast. In May Japan. In June, New Zealand and
US. In July, Europe. That's where we are now. Patti is driving on the
German Autobahn and Tuck is alternately navigating on the computer with the
GPS hookup and typing this.
We'll be home in August in time for the release of Chocolate Moment. We'll
be doing a lot of concerts as well as making appearances and signing
autographs at record stores (Tower, Borders and others) to help with
promotion. We hope to come to a city near you. Watch our tour schedule for
updates.
More soon.
Love,
Tuck and Patti
February 24, 2001
Hi!
We are currently off the road unexpectedly due to Tuck's breaking his ankle in a snowstorm in Tokyo at the end of January. He is out of pain and will heal completely, but we had to cancel our February Europe tour; we are rescheduling it for late spring . This unfortunate situation bought us the time to do some long-due website updating.
Our biggest news for 2000-2001 was the release of Taking The Long Way Home, our first all-original album, written, arranged and produced by Patti. We love it. See Pressroom for more information. Go to Discography for lyrics and audio excerpts.
We continued to tour extensively in Europe, Japan and the US, as well as playing at the first Seoul Jazz Festival in Korea.
Most commonly asked question: When will you play in ________? Answer: As soon as we know, we'll put it on our Performances page.
Second most commonly asked question: When will you teach? Answer: We have just committed to being Artists in Residence at Jazz Camp in June, 2001. We are also looking forward to rescheduling our master classes in the Netherlands in late spring. In general, whenever there is an opportunity, either in workshops or privately, we will announce it on our Performances page as well as Tuck's Corner and Patti's Place.
We have created a new page, Patti's Place, where Patti will start by including a copy of an in-depth interview. As time goes on, she'll use this forum to answer questions, so feel free to email her.
On Tuck's Corner you'll find new pages where Tuck has answered questions about music, picking, equipment, computers, collaborating and life.
One of our Japanese friends, Shigeyuki Okuzawa, has been working on translating this site into Japanese. He is also putting up information from guitar lessons we have done. Eventually we will put some of his work on this site, but to see it while it is in process, go to http://www02.so-net.ne.jp/~shige-p/index.html. He and his partner, Toshitaka Shimizu, both very talented guitarists, perform around Tokyo as a duo called Acousphere. Check them out!
Tuck has been working with Taku Sakashta of Sakashta Guitars and Bill Bartolini of Bartolini Pickups and Electronics to create the answer to the question, "Where can I buy a new guitar that sounds like Tuck's?" Results so far are extremely promising; we'll have more to report as time goes on.
Finally, thank you all for your kind emails. Once we created this website, the volume of correspondence immediately grew beyond what we could possibly answer personally, but we read it all and cannot tell you how much it means to us.
Heartfelt thanks to all of you,
Tuck & Patti
7/25/99
Hi! At the North Sea Jazz Festival we were presented with the Edison Award for the best international jazz album of the year! This is something like the Golden Globe in the United States, in that Dutch critics, journalists, tv and radio people are the ones who vote. It was a tremendous honor and a big surprise.
Our July trip to Europe offers a good slice of touring life to anyone who thinks they want to be a professional musician:
Day 1: Fly San Francisco-New York-Amsterdam. Typical 9:40 am flight means getting up at 5:00 am. Too bad bedtime was 4:45 am after getting ready for trip.
Day 2: Arrive Amsterdam; drive to Den Haag. Hotel checkin; brief nap. Soundcheck and outdoor concert with Dave Weckel at North Sea Jazz Festival. After meeting audience, walk a couple of blocks to another stage to hear Kirk Franklin's set (very inspiring).
Day 3: Radio, tv, press interviews at North Sea Jazz Festival. Soundcheck and workshop. More interviews en route to second venue. Soundcheck and two concerts; magical because the audience is so adorable and we are so tired that we get deeply lost in the music.
Day 4: Rent car. Patti drives us 250 miles to Bremen (she's the best driver of the touring party; I'm the best navigator). Soundcheck, dinner, concert. Patti drives us 250 miles back to Den Haag after the show, arriving just as the festival ends for the night. Meet many musicians at 3-4 am, who are getting ready to go to the late night jam sessions. We collapse. Non-musical highlight of trip: We are driving under an overpass and notice that instead of cars crossing above us, there is a sailboat gliding by. Very strange sensation if you're not Dutch. Funny, last time we played Bremen, we also drove all night after the show to play the next afternoon in Aalen, then again that night in Munich. Maybe one day we'll stay overnight in Bremen. It is probably a nice city.
Day 5: Publicity interspersed with naps and seeing other musicians play. Thanks to driving back from Bremen last night, this is officially a day off at the largest jazz festival in the world, with 10 groups playing at the same time, day and night, under one roof, and most of the 200 groups staying at the same hotel. We never get over the gee whiz factor, meeting Bill Frissell in the elevator, listening backstage to the David Sanborn band, missing Herbie Hancock's set but seeing him at the airport.
Days 6-8: Travel (fly or drive), change hotels and do soundcheck/concert each day in Italy: A castle courtyard in Imola; a piazza for thousands in Fabriano; a beautiful villa in Fermo. All lovely and very intense experiences. Thanks, Patrizio (our Italian promoter and old friend), for making everything run so smoothly as always.
Day 9: 12:40 pm flight means we don't have to get up until 4:30 am. Drive 4 1/2 hours to Rome. Business meeting at airport with someone we'd been trying to meet for months who travels a lot, too. Fly Rome-Barcelona-Tenerife (Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa). Get to town in time to talk with Scott Henderson and Terrence Blanchard groups, have dinner and go to bed.
Day 10: We sleep in! Soundcheck and concert. Big fun; great people. Terrence and band sound great.
Day 11: Fly to Gran Canaria; do it again. Terrence and band sound even greater. We all become friends.
Day 12: Fly Gran Canaria-Madrid-London, where the plan is to layover a whole day for the flight back to the US, saving thousands of dollars compared to flying home directly from Madrid. Late first flight reduces a comfortable connection to 12 minutes and a flat-out run from terminal B to terminal D in Madrid. But none of the luggage makes it to London. Two hours at Heathrow airport looking for luggage or any employee of Iberia. It turns out that they've all gone home early, before flight arrival, so we can't fill out a report. Another airline gives us some phone numbers. Drive around London to Gatwick airport hotel. Many late-night calls to US lost in voice-mail trying to get Iberia information.
Day 13: Early awakening to call and report the luggage to Iberia personnel who can't understand the situation and blame us. Multiple calls and supervisors, with ultimate recovery of luggage in the afternoon. Train to London to walk around on the remainder of our one day off. It turns out to be a wonderful day. Another perfect opportunity for rising to the "Don't worry, be happy" challenge.
Day 14: Fly London-Cincinnati-San Francisco. We get the same US customs agent we had last time in Cincinnati; we're getting to be old friends. In a stupor, unpack, do the wash, mail and phone, pack for next trip. Sleep in our own bed!
Day 15: Drive to Mendocino for a night off before next night's concert.
Other notes: (1) Spending four nights in one hotel (days 2-5) is a rare treat; average is one or two. (2) Interspersed is ongoing business with our office, agent and record company in the US, mostly in the middle of the night via phone, fax and email. (3) At festivals where we get to talk to many other musicians doing the same thing, it is possible to hear the same story as often as you ask the question, "What's being on the road like?"
Moral of the story: Be sure you are absolutely driven by love to play music professionally and have the discipline to maintain reasonable life habits when it gets rough. If so, it will be immensely rewarding, and the sleep-deprivation and unnatural rhythm of life will become as tolerable as they are for parents in the first few years. If not, the road will take you down.
Love,
Tuck & Patti
7/5/99
Hi! Welcome to our website. Yes, this is the official Tuck & Patti website owned and operated by us (Tuck & Patti). We offer special thanks to Tim Ware at Hyperarts, our web designer and old friend, for his patience as well as his design work. Also thanks to David Francis, who got us started, and Mark Stephani at JazzOnSix, who gave Tuck lots of technical advice and encouragement on presenting music. Now that we've gotten over the hump of getting the site up and running, we will be updating it as often as possible, especially the tour schedule, so please keep checking back.
This year is a big international year for us. In addition to domestic touring, so far we have made trips to Europe, Israel, Japan and Europe again. Soon Venezuela. Coldest place: Kemi, Finland, almost to Lapland, where we played outside in a snowstorm at an ice palace and hotel while filming an A&E TV special featuring skating and Windham Hill music to be aired this winter. It was quite an adventure, and the footage looks beautiful. You will notice that Tuck is not playing his regular guitar due to the extreme cold. Yes, it's a white guitar; that is not his old L-5 covered with snow.
Our most recent trip was to Japan, where we returned to the Blue Notes in Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka. This being our sixteenth trip to Japan, we felt right at home and saw many old and new Japanese friends. A brief break at home, then off to Europe for summer jazz festivals.
We ask you please not to buy the album Everything Is Gonna Be Alright. It is a very poorly recorded illegal bootleg. Neither we nor the songwriters receive any royalties. All of its artwork and liner notes were stolen from a Jazziz cover story we did years ago. It has done us quite a bit of harm, because it gets released at the same time as new releases in each market around the world, confusing people and cutting into sales of the new release.
Enjoy exploring and please give us feedback. Let us know what you'd like to see on this site. Please know that we read every email, although the volume is so great that it has become impossible for us to answer more than a fraction. Nonetheless, it means a great deal to us to hear from you.
Love,
Tuck & Patti
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