Let's say you were a jazz musician who studied at Berklee College of Music. In addition, you also happened to have had a classical education a la St. John's College in Santa Fe, the curriculum of which solely consists of the great works of philosophy, history, literature, and science. The countless hours of study and practice would have prepared you for what? - jazz clubs, academia, the great American novel? The answer to this question is of course "yes", that is unless you are Dominic Casti...
Let's say you were a jazz musician who studied at Berklee College of Music. In addition, you also happened to have had a classical education a la St. John's College in Santa Fe, the curriculum of which solely consists of the great works of philosophy, history, literature, and science. The countless hours of study and practice would have prepared you for what? - jazz clubs, academia, the great American novel? The answer to this question is of course "yes", that is unless you are Dominic Castillo, in which case the answer is "writing songs, playing shows, recording with the Savants...the jazz and the books, the punk rock of my youth and Mom's soul music, all these apparently disparate elements seem to come together when I'm writing and recording."This is not the standard recipe for your average rocker. And Dominic isn't, drawing comparisons to Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, Phantom Planet, Elliott Smith, and Jeff Buckley among others. And like those mentioned, Dominic is supported by a great band, The Rock Savants: Kelly Masigat on vocals/guitar/keys, Jonathan Barker on guitar, and Nate Szytel on drums.“Emotion, sincerity, with a dash of wit and harmonic sophistication... these are the elements I want in my songwriting - Oh yeah, and incidentally in the novel I’m writing.”
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