An alternate title would be "A Wonderful Outcome, But Not At All How I Wanted It To Go And Damn It Took Me Long Enough".

See, I'm 56, and this is my debut as a composer and recording artist.

I was 11 when I began playing the bass, played my first gig at 15, my first real recording session at a real studio at 16, had a music degree at 21. This should have happened a long time ago, right? Why would my first serious original music only appear now?

Getting to the point where this music became possible for me has been an incredible journey. But, why did it take so long?

Here's some insight. There was a whole lot of turbulence getting here and my vision was blurred.

Here is an example of the turbulence. I nearly gave up music entirely the day of my senior recital. This was supposed to be the crowning achievement of my college career and I had high hopes for a great event.

My father had found a reason to start a bitter confrontation with me a mere couple of hours before my concert. A concert that I was 100% responsible for, planned and worked on for almost a year, and was necessary to do well with in order to be awarded the degree.

I found myself onstage in shock. Every moment was agonizing, not at all the joyous occasion I had planned.

But, I got through the concert successfully.

Afterwards, I was treated to round two, only this time in public, where I foolishly thought I would be treated to a victory dinner. He again could not help himself. That's how he was. This was the 'straw that broke my back' event. This was by no means an isolated occurrence. A great many bitter confrontations happened over a period of years leading up to this.

The entire direction of my life was altered that day. In the subsequent six years, I had a drum machine, a reel of recording tape, or a soldering iron in my hands far more frequently than a bass.

The bass was no longer something I focused on, which was a dramatic departure for me. What I once dearly loved felt toxic to me and did so for years.

The untimely passing of Jaco Pastorius reawakened something in me. I found myself wanting to be a bass player again.

This marked the beginning of a long rehabilitation.

Making this music has opened me up to a tremendous healing of my musician self. This is why I am calling it 'Reconciliation', because I finally became capable of accepting an alternate outcome, a wonderful outcome, despite how hard it was getting here.

I haven't played the world's great stages, made a fortune, or became a renown instrumentalist. It went a different way and that's OK, because I really love this music, and I had to arrive right here in order to make this music.