New York Minute

In 2007, my wife and I were guests at an apartment in NY, thanks to some dear friends who were fellow parents of children the same age as ours. They had also come to support me musically in some projects I was launching. As a thank you to them, I sketched out ‘a New York Minute’, based on the sights and sounds I heard while strolling around the city as a visitor.

I had not intended for anyone to actually play it, because I knew I had written a really difficult piece, and a performance was actually never the intention.

Fast-forward to 2020, when my friend Ben Loeb was putting on solo piano recitals – during the coronavirus pandemic – and he asked me if I had any piano music he could perform.
 I sent him ‘A New York Minute’, as one of three selections, and much to my surprise he chose it, learned it, and gave it it’s official world premiere 13 years after it was written!

Thank you to Paul and Sandra Allen, our NYC hosts, for the inspiration, and to Ben Loeb, for the premiere!

Jim Stephenson April, 2020