#4106: With Pianist And Composer Ed Pastorini, In-Studio

Composer Ed Pastorini, who leads the band 101 Crustaceans, is a New York singer/pianist with an unusual, sometimes circular, approach to the song form. His eerie ballads and more aggressive works walk the line between popular song, art song, jazz, and improvisation. He tells of being classically-trained, but he was turned to the pop side by Credence Clearwater Revival, Traffic, The Beatles and some of the Motown hits. Pastorini also draws on twisted 1950's jazz harmonies to write piano-based songs that sound like he once sang along with saxophone solos. 

Even though Pastorini’s not too keen to talk about process, when he writes, it’s the music comes first, either that or a concept, like "Waxing the Institute Floor" or "Mechanical Chair." He’ll work with melody first, then painstakingly fit words to the melody, the same way he’s done it since he was 14.

The somewhat reclusive multi-instrumentalist also admits that he’s never really liked recording until recently. His latest album, years in the making, Strange Lures, is just out and there's another one in the works. For this New Sounds, Ed Pastorini plays new songs not from the record with wonderfully strange titles like “Coat of Goats” and “Hollowed Be Thy Name”, in the studio.

PROGRAM #4106 With Ed Pastorini (First aired 4/25/2018)

ARTIST: Ed Pastorini 
WORK: Old Tool Shed [1:00]
RECORDING: Strange Lures
SOURCE/INFO: edpastorini.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Ed Pastorini
WORK: Waxing the Institute Floor [5:00]
RECORDING: Live, 4/12/2018
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available. 

ARTIST: Ed Pastorini
WORK: Coat of Goats [5:40]
RECORDING: Live, 4/12/2018
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available. 

ARTIST: Ed Pastorini
WORK: Hollowed Be Thy Name  [5:33]
RECORDING: Live, 4/12/2018
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available. 

ARTIST: Ed Pastorini
WORK: Strange Lures [3:28]
RECORDING: Live, 4/12/2018
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO: The song appears on the record, Strange Lures. edpastorini.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Donna McKevitt
WORK: Falling [4:54]
RECORDING: Falling single
SOURCE/INFO: lelandoriginals.com

ARTIST: Melanie Poppenheim
WORK: Donna McKevitt: i walk in this garden (clean edit) [4:54]
RECORDING: Translucence
SOURCE: Teldec #22500
INFO: Out of print, but try Amazon.com or iTunes