Album Notes

A veteran of various musical scenes in Philadelphia, and a long time songwriter, Jon Dichter has finally done a recording of his own. This recording explores some of his musical landscape with an acoustic guitar setting. It includes some stellar session musicians of local, regional, and worldwide stature. The wonderful harmonica playing of William Gallison graces several tracks. Jessie Reed-Baron, a North Philly gospel singer who travels abroad to spread her message of spirit, appears along with several others of that deep Philadelphia tradition. They add a rich texture of harmony and background vocals that forms an excellent atmosphere for Jon's eclectic compositions.
Philly notables include John Swana on trumpet, Jay Ansill on mandolin, and Kenny Ulansky on clarinette. These three shine especially on the klezmer tune Esther's Song. Jon's extensive background in bluegrass, jazz, and blues really comes through in the composition and production of this gem of a recording. Every facet shines as Jon pushes the envelope of genre and creates a unique landscape of sound.
Jon is currently a member of "Jive Five Minus Two", a trio of acoustic musicians who are becoming regional favorites of the folk circuit. Their recordings are also available on CD Baby. He also produced the first recording of a wonderful blues and soul singer, Deb Callahan, available here as well. In addition to production, he helped write several of the songs on Deb's album "If the Blues Had Wings" and performs on some cuts as well.