Introducing Larry Jasinski, a musician/composer whose debut CD, Imaginary Dawn, presents an instrumental and vocal blend of multi-colored chords and harmonies with inventive arrangements and symphonic undertones in a genre that we call progressive contemporary.
A lifelong musician, Larry taught music in the New Braunfels, Texas, area for more than 15 years. His influences span the musical spectrum from impressive and imposing figures of rock history—Keith Emerson and his intricate organ in Emerson Lake & Palmer and Ritchie Blackmore's hard-driving guitar in Deep Purple—to twentieth-century composers Aaron Copland and Arnold Schoenberg. Larry's instruments include keyboards, guitars, and occasional drum programming. The result is a unique concoction of symphonic power and sound.
He enlisted the assistance of diverse and talented musicians:
Lei Jasinski (vocalist/bassist) Larry's sister and musical partner sings most of the vocals and
plays all bass. Through the years they have performed as the duo LJ.
Wally Doggett (drums/percussion) Wally, former longtime drummer with Jimmy LaFave, plays
on a number of selections.
Jimmy McNeal (vocals) A top-forty American Idol finalist in 2007, Jimmy contributes his
soulful vocals on two songs ("Solitaire" and "Messengers").
Andy Hamel (drums) Andy, an up-and-coming dynamic drummer of prog metal band
Violent Skies, plays on "You Lost Your Way."
Jaime Zamora (guitar) The late Jaime Zamora, guitarist of the Texas Rio Grande Valley,
improvised a soaring lead on "Messengers."
Imaginary Dawn has been produced by independent label Red Nickel Records, owned by engineer/producer Gary S. Hickinbotham. His long list of engineering credits, recorded at Fire Station Studios in San Marcos, Texas, includes Doug Sahm's Indie Award-winning Juke Box Music, the Texas Tornados (Grammy Award-winning "Soy de San Luis Potosi"), the Americana folk of Tish Hinojosa, the jazz of the Four Freshmen, and the rock of Javi Garcia and the Cold Cold Ground.
The journey through Imaginary Dawn offers a haunting, sometimes playful, introspective, lovelorn, and ultimately triumphant path through the struggles of musicianship as Larry has battled through his own personal journey in the peaks and valleys of bipolar disorder. From embarking on the CD's title track "Imaginary Dawn" to the end of the odyssey and the opening of a fresh chapter in "Messengers," this collection takes its listener to a new musical horizon.
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