1. THE GREAT ONE [guitar, piano, bass, drums]
(dedicated to Wayne Gretzky)
Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf, Michael Jordan, Gianfranco Zola, all seem to transcend their respective sports and have been inspiring to watch, much like watching a masterful musician or dancer at work. Perhaps the athelete that has inspired me the most is Wayne Gretzky. His creative artistry on the ice left me in awe everytime I saw him play. His gift was no accident either. I was interested in reading his autobiography to find out how hard he worked at his craft to get to that level! I guess that's why they call him the Great One.

2. DAVID LEAVES [guitar, piano, bass, drums]
I was in New York walking in Central Park (on October 6th of 1992 to be exact). The leaves were falling everywhere and the colours were beautiful. It was a lovely autumn day and a great walk. When I got back to my apartment I picked up my guitar and basically wrote the melody of this song in about a minute. I just played it. I wish all tunes would come so easily. I heard the melody over a pedal root but figured out afterwards that it fit over the chord changes to Autumn Leaves which is what we improvise on. Later that month I was to return to Canada and still didn't have a title and my friend (Vaughan Misener to be exact) said "why don't you call it David Leaves". We had a laugh but I didn't know what to call it after that. The name stuck with me (so to speak).

3. TOWER IMAGES [guitar, bass, drums]
(inspired by my wife Mascia and her paintings)
This is my newest composition on the recording and its' contemporary nature was inspired by the artwork of my wife Mascia Manunza.

4. STUDY HALL [guitar, piano, bass, drums]
(dedicated to Jim Hall)
Jim Hall has been a huge influence on me and my music. He is a real gentleman and a great human being. In my lessons with him he taught me to be adventurous and encouraged the more contemporary-music type of compositions I brought into him. He not only changed the way I approach playing music but even changed the way I listen to music.

5. AND THIS MEANS WAR [guitar, piano, bass, drums]
Composed after watching CNN for 3 days straight upon the commencement of the 1991 Gulf War this piece documents an earlier writing style.

6. HOMELESS [guitar, bass, drums]
Composed on piano in Italy in 1995. I was looking for an apartment and in the meantime was borrowing a friend's flat in beautiful Bologna, Italy (one of my favourite cities on earth). This tune, I think, captures the irony of my being homeless.

7. ICEBERG [guitar]
A contemporary solo piece for electric guitar, this piece was inspired by a quote I heard about the human mind being like an iceberg (7/8's of it being below the surface). It was also inspired by one my favourite guitarists in New York: Ben Monder.

8. DESERT SONG [guitar, bass, drums]
Composed just prior to the start of the Gulf War in 1991 this piece expresses some of the angst I felt at that time.

9. MARINA DI MODICA [guitar, piano, bass, drums]
Written at a beautiful beach on a classical guitar I borrowed from my cousin. Marina di Modica is a small beach town very close to where my parents were born in Italy.

10. WINTER-TIME [prepared, fretless, acoustic and electric guitars]
This one is based on George Gershwin's Summertime. I was experimenting with the sound of prepared guitar used as percussion on my 4-track in 1993. Those experiments eventually led to this version recorded in 1997. I had a great time with this one, especially at the mix. One of my favourite moments in the studio was when we plugged my electric guitar into the Leslie speaker. The surprise ending (we wanted it to sound like the tape ran out) was inspired by what the Beatles did on I Want You/She's So Heavy.

-David Occhipinti (1997)


Produced by Jonathan Goldsmith
Jeff McMurrich - engineer
recorded, mixed and mastered at Digital Music - Toronto, Canada
recorded January 23, 25 & 26; 1997
cover art and photos - Mascia Manunza
graphic layout - Andrew Hurlbut