"Inner Urge" by Joe Henderson, performed by Patrick Bartley and Miles Lennox. Captured in a practice room at the Manhattan School of Music, on May 28, 2023.

Playing duo is a really special and intimate thing. I always appreciate the balance of freedom and vulnerability of this setting, and the courage it takes to navigate between those two lines. At a certain point, you start to realize that they are both two sides of the same coin, and freedom cannot exist without a sense of vulnerability. Playing songs like Inner Urge with no clear externalized pulse is a perfect example of that, as well! Miles's harmonic and textural choices throughout this really gave me room to play with that vulnerability. In that short amount of time, on this first and only take, we were able to place complete trust in each other to make it to the next note, and we reached some serious peaks as a result of that... I'd like to see what else can keep happening in this setting!

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----Grab "THE TOKYO SESSION", featuring William Schwartzman, here: https://patrickbartley.bandcamp.com/a...

Back in NYC! After the Tokyo session with Will back in Fall 2022, I decided to take advantage of some time I had while on a short trip to NYC in May of this year to do the same thing - this time, with another young pianist who you'll surely want to add to your watchlist: Miles Lennox. To say this session was special would be a severe understatement. Not only was I back at my alma mater, the Manhattan School of Music - which Miles actually just graduated from this year - but I also got to spend time with this incredible pianist who I watched grow, literally, since he was 11 years old and going to my old middle school in South Florida. More than 10 years later, at 22 years of age, Miles is really showing what hard work, dedication, and staying true to your passion returns to you when you give it your all. I'm extremely proud of this young brother, and, just like Will, I'm sure you'll understand why I consider him to be one of the next pioneering forces in this music...

And to his father, who I'll leave unnamed for privacy just in case, I want to thank you and give you a shout-out, as well, for constantly being there for your son and supporting him quite literally every day of his musical journey - and always keeping me up-to-date about his journey, as well. You're an example of what a great father should be!

Once again, I'd like to also mention that each song we recorded for this channel was done in one take. This was truly an immensely honest exploration of music in its purest sense, and I hope you can enjoy that transparency with every flub and mistake we left in to keep it as raw as possible. There's not enough of that on YouTube anymore.

Thank you so much for watching, and stay tuned for more from Miles!


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