Friends & Family by Ted Taforo

1. Ghoul Me Once: Touring through Canada last summer we had so much fun, but by the end we were tired and felt like ghouls! I’m so grateful to have shared the stage at the legendary Montreal Jazz Festival with one of my best friends Efa Etoroma Jr who is featured on this track and album.

In therapy I’ve learned that some people will tire you out emotionally, but the great ones will give you energy. Here’s to setting boundaries with all the “ghouls” out there...

2. Sawtelle: Hanging out in the Sawtelle neighborhood of LA with my friend Emiliano Lasansky has been a great safe space to have deep conversations about life. Emiliano also lent his incredible bass playing to this song and many others on this album.

Sometimes the environment in which you have a conversation is just as healing and nourishing as the conversation itself! Good people are the best environment.

3. Cold As Hell: Growing up in the mountains of Northern California I am no stranger to the cold of winter! However, the emotional coldness that sometimes comes with pursuing an artistic career in the far milder climate of Los Angeles has taken some getting used to! With this song I invited some of my close friends to help me let off some of that cold steam with a funky disco groover!

When it gets cold in your heart, the real ones will keep you warm with the rhythms of their joy.

4. Luba, The Baroness: When my great-grandmother immigrated to America from Italy she worked as a cook for a wealthy socialite who my family has always referred to as “Luba, The Baroness”. Whether or not she was actually a baroness is unknown! One thing is for sure, Nonna put her intuitive improvisational skills to work to create some incredible meals! This song is a celebration of my family’s open-minded spirit and includes samples of some zany food themed voicemails from my uncle Mike and my friend Chino Corvalán.

When you embrace the capacity for improvisation in your life, you allow yourself to find freedom within structures that previously could have held you back...

5. Looking Back: It’s easy to forget the innocent joy that it takes to make art or really anything that you end up taking seriously in your life! This song features my close friend David Aguila’s beautiful ramblings of some of our favorite nonsense phrases mixed with serious goals in his music career. I’ve always been inspired by his ability to stay extremely focused while not taking himself too seriously!

It is a joy to return to the childlike sense of wonder that whispered in our ear one day: “Hey, this is fun! Why not create something new?” Forgetting about making sense for a different kind of perfection!”

6. For Myles: This song is an elegy for the brother of a close friend of mine. Tragically gone too soon, this was my attempt to offer a place to feel these difficult feelings.

We don’t know what happens after this life, but we can be there for one another while we are still here.

7. Nightwalk: This past year my own brother had a terrifying snowmobile accident in which his vehicle exploded into 20-foot high flames in the middle of a remote part of the wilderness. This song’s shifting rhythms and textures emulate the unpredictability of life and aim to serve as a warning to pay attention to our ever-changing surroundings!

Moment to moment, the only real place that exists is the one that you decide to be present in!

8. It Gets Better: This melody occurs twice in this album. It is a reminder that despite the pain of trying to improve one’s mind and life, it is possible! This version is done in a late 70’s/80’s retro funk style, in homage to Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau and other smooth jazz/fusion artists that I grew up listening to with my dad. It includes some samples of friends Ryan Wieghard and Clinton Patterson, checking in on me during the pandemic.

Just keep going, the small details add up, the journey itself is the only true reward!!!

9. Time To Process: Sometimes you just need a minute to vibe! That’s what this one is about. My therapist introduced me to Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in which you keep track of thoughts and feelings about a situation and then consider logical, healthy responses to it. This song was inspired by that process.

What am I thinking, how am I feeling, what would I typically do in this situation, what options are available, knowing this what then do I choose to do now?

10. Frankenstein Lives!: This song was written as a way to process a difficult fight I had with my brother some time ago. The intro includes samples of family home movies where we were trying to find some old clothes that ended up being too small for my brother since he’d grown up.

Sometimes the monster that you think someone is, isn’t really there. Even if the monster feels so real, learn to hold space for them to change and grow. Give them time and respect, hoping that they just might outgrow their difficult behaviors.

11. Chosen Ones: I am eternally grateful for my partner Baolu and our dog. This song is dedicated to my chosen family who has taught me so much about life, love, and myself. There are samples of Baolu and I laughing uncontrollably about some beautiful nonsense mixed with a floating saxophone choir.

If you stay committed to being beautifully yourself then someone else’s beauty can find you. This is the essence of pure joy...

12. It Gets Better (Reprise): The final stop on this album’s journey is a re-imagining of track 8 with Chino Corvalán on percussion, drums, and bass. In this version we abandoned the tight/locked-in retro textures of the first version for something more free-wielding in nature. The song also includes a field recording of my old neighborhood in central Los Angeles where I went through a lot of difficult times: the pandemic, getting sober, and enduring difficult housing and neighborhood circumstances. The crickets and cars at the end were recorded by former neighbor and close friend Myles Kramer who currently lives at my old house.

In a container filled with liquid you cannot perceive the separation of one space of it from any other. It’s all just liquid. The good and the bad, the easy and the challenging, the pretty and the shitty. It does get better, trust yourself, practice the good practice.

There is water within the water, my friends!

Respectfully,

Ted Taforo, June 2024

www.tedtaforo.com