The And of One

To conclude the story of Noa Noa, the musical I wrote about Paul Gauguin, Veronica and I discuss its journey to Playwright’s Horizons in N.Y.C., where it was performed in a workshop production. Being a recording artist and touring musician, everything about the theatre was unfamiliar to me. I was fortunate to connect with Don Scardino, who directed the show, and with all the singers and actors who...

In this episode, Veronica and I discuss  Noa Noa, a musical I wrote about Paul Gauguin and his life in French Polynesia. I wrote this music over several years, in between making albums and touring on the Road. I finished the 26-song project in early 1990. Eventually it was performed in an off-Broadway workshop production at Playwright’s Horizons in NYC, directed by Don Scardino.  In our conversati...

In 1974 I wrote the music for a film at Warner Bros. called Zandy’s Bride. The picture was directed by a famous Swedish film maker named Jan Troell and starred Gene Hackman and Liv Ullman. In this episode, Veronica and I discuss how I got involved in the project and what it was like writing music for a film at a major studio. For me, it was like diving headfirst into the deep end of a totally unfa...

Recorded and released in 1973, this record, my first, appeared on vinyl, titled eponymously Michael Franks. In this episode Veronica and I discuss how I got the recording contract, which players I worked with, and some of the compositions I wrote. The record enjoyed some airplay across the country and "bubbled under the charts" for awhile. But the label, Brut, didn't last long.   Years later, in 1...

  In this episode Veronica and I discuss the fourth record I made for Warner Brothers, “Tiger in the Rain,” which was recorded in the Fall of 1978 and released early the following year. I worked with Producer/Arranger John Simon on this record and John wrote the most beautiful charts for the project.                                      Circa 1978, sitting underneath the appletree, playing the 192...

  phote: Claudia Franks Meeting Antonio Carlos Jobim and spending time with him in New York and Rio was one of the peak experiences of my musical life. Among other things in this episode, Veronica and I discuss how he invited me down to Rio to record some of the songs on “Sleeping Gypsy,” and what an inspiration it was for me just to get to know him. Whenever I was around Jobim I always felt like...

In this episode, Veronica and I discuss how I eventually signed with Warner Bros. Records and began my long (24 year) career with the label. The Art of Tea was the first record I made for them and our conversation includes a lot of the project’s backstory. It was the first time I worked with the rhythm section that consisted mostly of the Crusaders with the addition of drummer John Guerin. And thi...

"White Boy Lost in the Blues" My career as a songwriter enjoyed a great leap forward when I was lucky enough to work on the “Sonny and Brownie” album. In addition to “White Boy Lost in the Blues,” I wrote two other  songs for the project and played on several cuts. Needless to say, working in the studio with them was quite a thrill, especially for an absolute greenhorn like myself. The entire expe...

Episode Zero In this intro, Veronica and I describe some of the subjects we’ve already discussed or plan to discuss in the forthcoming episodes. We’ve recorded nearly a year’s worth of episodes so far and plan to release them once a month. The title of the podcast is borrowed from a book of memoirs I’ve been writing about my career and all the great musicians with whom I’ve had the pleasure to wor...