Album Notes

DOVE GREY:

ANGELO PALAZZOLO, CHRIS BIRG, and GARY PRAEG,

…began their musical collaboration in the late 1960’s as the popular Detroit club band ‘Katzanjammer’. They performed as the house band at the historic Roostertail in Detroit, Michigan. The group often drew over 1500 fans anxious to hear and dance to their distinctive covers of groups such as The Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, Traffic, Sly and the Family Stone, The Youngbloods, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and Santana. They also collaborated on and performed original songs.

As fate would have it, the three musicians would go their separate ways in the early 1970’s.

Angelo would continue performing as vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in notable club groups playing top venues in the Detroit area. Later he began to develop his songwriting talents concentrating on a unique vocal style and interpretation, and an original rhythmic concept. He was influenced by Brazilian artists Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, and Milton Nascimento. Jazz singers Mark Murphy and Chet Baker and contemporary artists such as Michael Franks, Kenny Rankin, and Joni Mitchell also made a major impression. The unclassifiable Jon Lucien was a spiritual as well as a musical inspiration.

Chris went on to formal music education and received a Master’s degree in music from Wayne State University where he studied classical and jazz guitar under the legendary teacher and Segovia protégé Joe Fava whose students included jazz great Kenny Burrell and classical virtuoso Scott Tennant. He also studied the work of jazz guitar giants Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino and Joe Pass. He would go on to teach classical guitar at WSU and jazz guitar privately. He has performed in a wide range of musical situations: as solo guitarist, in classical ensembles with members of the Detroit Symphony, in jazz groups and pop cover bands - demonstrating his versatility as a guitarist.

Gary established his own successful ‘Cloud Born’ recording studio which he operates to this day. He has worked with such luminaries as Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Anita Baker and Earl Klugh. He co-produced and collaborated as songwriter on the album ‘You Make It Easy’ by R&B singer Keith Washington. That recording was released on Quincy Jones’ Quest record label. He also was the founding member of pop group ‘Shivers’ who recorded an album for
A & M records. Gary is a top-notch recording engineer and a real master of Pro Tools digital recording software.

A chance meeting in 2004 would again bring Angelo, Chris and Gary together.
Friendships and the desire to make music were re-kindled.
The result of their efforts is this CD:
DOVE GREY – ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

The trio drew upon their collective musical influences and years of experience to create a sound that is diverse, fresh, and accessible. The CD is comprised of eight original songs and two unique treatments of songs by Tim Hardin and Lennon/McCartney.

CD Credits:

Angelo Palazzolo:
- lead vocals
- acoustic nylon-string guitar
- flute/ background vocals
- percussion/ original songs

Chris Birg:
- acoustic nylon-string guitar
- electric guitar/ acoustic steel-string guitar
- guitar synthesizer/ background vocals

Gary Praeg:
- keyboards
- rhythm track programming
- background vocals
- recording and mixing engineer

Also making strong contributions to this recording are:

Lamont Johnson – electric and fretless electric bass

Stefan Kukurugya – keyboards

Larry Fratangelo – percussion

Bill Gordon – additional percussion