DANIEL ZAITCHIK
Hello. I have started a Substack. Am I sure what it is or how it works? No. Nonetheless, please subscribe HERE.
This will be a place to drop words — poems, essays, thoughts, etc. I will only post occasionally, when moved. No inboxes will be inundated.
I’ve been writing more non-music things lately and didn’t know where they should live. Now I know. And you do too.
Hope to see you there.
This track is the first in a series of songs inspired by places I’ve been, real and imagined. “Switzerland (Kites)” — recorded with Robert Adam Stevenson — is streaming everywhere now.
The first round of voting for Recording Academy members is open now. Thank you for considering Darling GRenadine as a nominee for Best New Musical Theater Album.
Collaborating more directly with choreographers and dancers has been on my to-do list for a long time. Even though I have an album called Bad Dancer, I’ve always been big into creative movement. (It’s better when I’m not the one doing the moving.) I loved working with Boston Ballet artists My’Kal Stromile and Derek Dunn on this video, along with my go-to director/editor Marjorie Lewit. We really had a great time creating and filming this piece. Things rarely go so smoothly and happily. I hope that shows. I had always imagined this song as a dance. I look forward to more dance projects in the near future. Thank you for watching.
My frequent collaborator Marjorie Lewit made this music video for my song EVERYTHING from old family footage. Hours of home movies had been transferred to discs years ago, and I’d been carrying them around with me — but I never felt compelled to watch them; or rather, maybe I was a little afraid to watch. When thinking about a video idea for this track about adolescence, it finally felt like the right moment to press play.
My new album Public Fruit Trees of Los Angeles is out now. Recorded in LA and produced by Robert Adam Stevenson, this is a collection of songs I wrote during the pandemic. Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, or wherever else you get your music. Thanks for your ears.
Featuring duets with Fay Wolf + Max Chernin; Clarinet + additional woodwind arrangements, Ryan Glass; flute, Shannon Canchola; cello + additional cello arrangements, Max Mueller; trumpet + additional trumpet arrangements, Mike Nappi; violin, Ludovica Burtone; mastered by John Naclerio; cover photo by Alex Stoddard.
The album of my musical Darling Grenadine is out today on all digital platforms. The record features the off-Broadway cast from the 2020 Roundabout Underground production in NYC. That run got cut a little short by the pandemic, but we finally reunited a couple years later to record the songs.
I’ll be posting some “listening notes” soon for those of you (…most) who have never seen the play. (If you’re interested in owning the album rather than streaming, may I suggest downloading it here on bandcamp.com?) I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for taking a listen.
Credits:
Produced by Dean Sharenow, Daniel Zaitchik, and Brad Blume.
Featuring Adam Kantor, Emily Walton, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Aury Krebs, Matt Dallal, & Mike Nappi.
Orchestrations by Matt Moisey. Music Direction & additional arrangements by David Gardos. Featuring sound design by Brian Ronan. Music Assistant: Stephanie Leah Evans. Additional vocals: Matt Moisey, Stephanie Leah Evans. Illustrations by Edward Morris.
Violin: Maggie Gould; Cello: Adele Stein; Woodwinds: Emily Pecoraro; Bass: Michael Blanco; Guitar: Sungwon Kim; Drums: Dan Berkery; Trumpet: Mike Nappi; Keys: David Gardos.
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Dean Sharenow. Recorded at Reservior Studios, NY & Steel Cut Audio, NYC. Mixed & mastered at Steel Cut Audio. Assistant Engineer: Alex Conroy. Technical Coordinator: James Yost.
I’m slowly releasing my next album tune by tune. Written at the height of the pandemic, this track is a duet with one of my oldest friends, fellow singer-songwriter Fay Wolf. Produced with Robert Adam Stevenson, photograph by Malachy Donnelly. Available in all the usual places: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, etc. Thanks for your ears.
photograph by Malachy Donnelly
Excited to share a new single produced with Robert Adam Stevenson + a music video by Marjorie Lewit. Out in all the usual music places. Thanks for your ears.
The recording of my one-boy musical The Costume is now available on Spotify and other music streaming services. Originally produced off-Broadway in 2018 as part of Inner Voices, The Costume album features Finn Douglas as Leo, with music direction by Deborah Abramson.
It’s Halloween Eve, 1954, and 10-yr-old Leo is given the unexpected task of caring for an injured pigeon his neighbor found in her yard. As the anxious Leo tries to nurse the bird back to health overnight, he replays the surprising events of day, and we’re invited into his complex, emotional world . . .
Finn Douglas in The Costume
A real live gig. Will be opening for & playing with the Constellation Quartet on Saturday, August 21st in a sweet little garden in Redondo Beach, CA. 7:30 pm. Grab tickets HERE. Use code DANIEL10 for a 10% discount. See you in the garden. 🌱
Doing another round of this songwriting/storytelling lab through Roundabout Theatre Company. Last time was fun, inspiring & supportive. You can be at any place in your career. If interested, sign up HERE. Feel free to message me with any questions.
Sometimes a mysterious thing happens with a song: the reason you wrote it shows up long after you’ve written it. Back when I was working this tune out, I’d always get unreasonably emotional & I wasn’t sure why. Months later, as my dad was slowly passing on in the living room, my mom asked if I would play something on the piano. Oh god. How was I supposed to play the “right” thing in that moment? I wanted to run away, but I knew I had to play. This was the only music I could think of. So, shaking, I played it. And it seemed as though it had always been written for there and then — a way to say, “Go on. Let go. Isn’t it beautiful to disappear? You can disappear and still be here. You’re a snow fox.” So this song is stuck in that moment for me. Not in a sad way. In an ineffable, everything-is-an-unseen-web-and-we-know-nothing way. I don’t believe in many things you can hold or articulate — religion, crystals, astrology… — so it’s always nice when a song steps in and whispers, “Yup.”
If you’re interested in a theatre songwriting lab this February, please click below for more info.
After many years and many tunes, this is the song people still ask for the most. today after swimming in the Atlantic I wanted to remind myself how it goes. Happy August, everyone.
This is Leslie Mcdonel singing my arrangement of Blackbird in 2015 — in the ruins of Jack London’s Winery in Sonoma. It was turned into an outdoor performance space by Transcendence Theatre Company. This tune felt especially fitting for the current global situation (if you’re in the future, the current situation is Covid-19.) I love Leslie’s voice and will always remember this performance.
I wrote this song a decade ago. It sat around for a while and eventually became the inspiration for the NATURAL HISTORY album.
