Michael Zilber's Billy Collins Project - Album Released April 20, 2010

"This is art music of the highest order performed with passion, wit and verve."
— Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times

Listen to excerpts from the album:
Another Reason I Don't Keep A Gun In The House »
The Blues »
Night Club »
On Turning Ten »

Comments on Eleven On Turning Ten by Michael Zilber

The Billy Collins Project has been a true labor of love for me. It features eleven poems by Billy Collins, America's most beloved and widely known poet (and its former poet laureate), set to music for voice, sax, piano, bass, and drums. Back in 2002, as my son Maclen was turning ten, his mother showed me the Collins poem "On Turning Ten." It moved and astonished me with its mix of humor and poignancy, and it perfectly captured the moment when a child first realizes he is not immortal. I remember Maclen, tears in his eyes, reading the poem, and, in a quavering voice, saying "This poem is about me." It was then that I resolved to one day set "On Turning Ten" to music, and one day in early 2007 I did. At that point I decided I had to do a song cycle of Collins poems, and approached Billy, asking for his permission to do so. His reply was as funny, wry, and on point as his poetry. Others had set his poetry to music before, but it always ended up sounding like the opera singer in The Three Stooges, but since I was jazz, that was different so sure, go ahead. In my reply I assured him there was no Margaret Dumont element in my music, and after hearing a couple of my CDs, he agreed, and I began.

I really want you to hear this music, and while you will be able to get it from a wide variety of places, I hope you'll choose to order the CD through this website, since that ensures that the largest percentage of your purchase goes directly to the artist (me).  Also, there really is a significant difference in sound quality between a CD and even the best quality MP3s, so I would recommend going the CD route, since this is music that has been recorded, mixed and mastered with great attention to audio quality. The CD is also available through Origin Records, Amazon and many other fine retailers of CDs, and will soon be available through iTunes and other digital distributors.