"What is This Thing Called Love" is not only the title of a great Cole Porter song, but a question for the ages. Many of us feel that we've found it (I certainly feel that I have), but there's still a great mystery about it at times, that I'm not sure can be answered. Certain chemistries exist that remain pretty much unexplainable. I know personally that I've been blessed with a forty-year marriage, having found my soul-mate in a way that only God could have ordained.
Even with this basically very positive existence of mine, I find myself melancholy at times as I look at pictures of a very young Dewey and Sandra Erney, pictures of a dog no longer with us, pictures of sons playing basketball and soccer, pictures of a daughter in ballet costumes, pictures of loved ones living across this wonderful country of ours, some still with us and some not.
It is this feeling of melancholy which I have explored in this latest recording. There are a couple of songs which express some hope, albeit bewilderment - namely, Bewitched and My Foolish Heart. The last song in this recording, That's All, expresses unabashed romanticism and a hope for lasting love to come; a song that's been in my heart for a long time. The rest of the songs are music and poems of love lost and primarily hopelessness. I love all of this music and I'm truly blessed to be able to express my emotions through it.
The wonderfully-talented and empathetic musicians heard with me on this recording are certainly my musical soul-mates and my feeling for them goes far beyond being musicians together. You've seen and heard their names in many of my previous recordings. I'd like to thank them for the consistent love and respect they show these wonderful songs; Ron EschetÈ on guitar, Gerry Schroeder on piano, and Tom Kubis on alto, tenor, and soprano saxophone. You guys are the greatest and it's an honor to be in your musical company.
