Here are a few favorite projects I have worked on over the years along with a some of my earlier indie releases:
—Sound design for the permanent exhibit installation of Windows on Earth that is in a few Museums around the USA including the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Boston Museum of Science, and St. Louis Science Center.
I also composed and produced the Earth Orbits soundtrack for TERC. The soundtrack accompanied the special Windows on Earth software developed for the 2008 Richard Garriott Mission to the International Space Station.
Earth Orbits Reflection is the 6 minute cinematic soundtrack derivative of the 2008 Windows on Earth Soundtrack.
THN (Tanz heut Nacht) Audnoyz Remix for 3rFL Music , the dance music hauz based in Koln, Germany. The Message Audnoyz Remix for the Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey Soundtrack CD by Shawn K. Clement. The score to Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey was composed by Shawn K. Clement, who recorded his score with an 80-piece ensemble of the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra at the Skywalker Scoring Stage north of San Francisco. Clement integrated sounds and space noise provided by NASA into the music, and served as Post Audio Producer on the film.
Lucky Seven Remix by Audnoyz is an artful mash-up of Timothy Michael Wynn’ music for Japan’s Top-rated Fuji Television series. In addition to Lucky Seven, Tim is known for Tokyo Control the World’s first 3D TV show also on Fuji TV, as well as hit TV shows like Supernatural and many video games including The Simpsons, Darkness, Dungeon Siege, Command & Conquer, to name only a few. It was blast applying the Audnoyz Aesthetic to Tim’s great compositions and hope to work with more of his music some time soon.
Underscore for ‘The Minutes’ a mockumentary short that’s part of the Justin Timberlake In Time Blu-ray/DVD release. 
The Minutes features in-character interviews with the principal cast about the subject of immortality and explores the conception of the film’s dystopian society. 
Audistry tracks collaborations were a natural fit for Live Forever: A Ray Bradbury Odyssey which Shawn K. Clement is the films composer. The feature-length film narrated by Criminal Minds star Joe Montegna, chronicles the sci-fi icon behind Farenheit 451 and so many sci-fi classics that span decades and reach generations. Ray’s Dream from the Audistry Album captures the complexity of the archtypical Sci-Fi Guy. Audio editing on field recordings for composer Ruth Mendelson’s Eagle Vision Initiatives’ Well Wishings and Blessing – Kids in America to kids in Iraq- CD. This remarkable collection of words, songs, and raps has really saved lives.
I also mastered to CD Ruth’s wonderful soundtrack for the documentary film Shadow of the House which is an intimate portrait of photographer Abelardo Morell, revealing the mystery and method of his artistic process.
Wild Planet Music’s Buddha compilation album featuring Sqye, Zahava, Grammy winning wind instrument master Matt Darriau and the great production work of Joseph Briggs.
Barney Kessel homage with bassist Maggie Rizzi. It’s a medley of 3 Barney tunes and a respectful nod to one of the most under-rated guitar aces’ the world largely didn’t know…
Jaz-Mobi: A Warm Melting Pot of Jazz, Guitar And Electronics
Jazz and technology have frequently mixed about as well as oil and water. As late as the mid-1960s, whenthe Beatles were in the studio layering the multiple overdubs and effects that would become Sgt. Pepper, overdubs on a jazz record 
were a rare commodity. By the late 1960s, Miles Davis, working with Teo Macero, changed much of that, using a rock-inspired collage method of editing that made William Burroughs’ literary cut-ups look like child’s play. Similarly, jazz and guitar have also had shared a rough co-existence. Charlie Christian introduced the electrically amplified guitar to millions via his early 1940s work with Benny Goodman’s big band. And in his off-hours, he jammed with Dizzy Gillespie and other founding fathers of bebop. And while Les Paulwould probably call himself a jazz guitarist, ironically, his enormous popularity as a pop artist in the 1950s meant that for many, he wasn’t taken seriously as a musician. (George Benson would experience a similar fate in the 1970s.) 
But few of bebop’s heavy hitters had guitarists in their bands, until Miles Davis gave John McLaughlin a call in the late 1960s. Between them, the two men practically invented jazz-rock fusion. And after leaving Miles’ orbit in the early ’70s, McLaughlin would spend the next 15 years or so experimenting with an enormous variety of styles. Each of these groups were documented with pristine multi-tracked recordings, demonstrating that McLaughlin was one of the few jazz artists who had a firm hand in both his music and technology. McLaughlin’s echoes are all over The Jaz-Mobi Project, a new recording featuring a small ensemble led by Boston-based guitarist Steve Thomas. What’s Does It Sound Like? Perhaps to prepare the listener for the experimentation to come, the first two tracks on the CD are a bit subdued. They feature traditional, warm jazz guitar dueting with a sax, in a clean, well-mixed sound with a surprisingly wide stereo spread. Track three, “Looking Up”, features, breezy, George Benson-ish guitar tones and melodies over what sounds to me like looped percussion. The tune’s bridge features Thomas playing Pat Metheny-like digitally delayed tones on his clean, warm electric guitar. It’s on track four that things begin to really get interesting, sonically speaking. On “Breeze On A Bay”, Thomas and crew take off to India, in a track whose combination of tabla drums and acoustic guitars is very reminiscent of John McLaughlin’s mid-1970s pioneering jazz-raga fusion with the group Shakti, but with a much more accessible melody than McLaughlin’s modal mazes. An alto sax solo gives way to a complex synthesized tone, reminiscent of some of Steve Winwood’s keyboard solos of his Arc of a Diver period. It could very well be Thomas on a guitar synth, of course! Track seven, “Way-farther”, begins with rain and wind loops for its opening, which give way to nice acoustic and clean electric guitar. There’s a nice analog guitar-synth sound, very reminiscent of some of McLaughlin’s work in the early-1980s, when he fronted a band whose keyboard player was armed with an early Synclavier synthesizer. The second to last track, “Babes In Toyland” is just that, as Thomas and his ensemble weave acoustic and digitally delayed electric guitars through a maze of digital effects. Then there are echoes of some of Jimmy Page’s raga-rock (think “White Summer” and “Black Mountain Side”), until the track culminates in samples of children’s voices and another guitar-synth patch. Music That Ingratiates With Its Listener I’ve made several comparisons to John McLaughlin in this review. But it’s unfair to say that Thomas is strictly a McLaughlin clone. For one thing, Thomas’s playing is more eclectic–if only because he doesn’t need to prove, as McLaughlin seemingly must on every CD, that he can fit 72,392 notes into a single bar of music. Jaz-Mobi’s music ingratiates itself with the listener. And any jazz CD that combines great guitar playing, accessible melodies and rich digital recording strategies is a rare thing, and The Jaz-Mobi Project’s CD is well-worth checking out for that very reason. Its subtle layers of sound may need a few listens to fully reveal themselves to you. But that’s OK–this is a CD that holds up quite nicely to repeated playing. 
Issue # 65 REVIEWS- THE JAZ-MOBI PROJECT: Guitarist/composer Steve Thomas leads a whole host (like, a mob, mebbe’?) of players for this rockin’ & boppin’ CD project. The one thing that will strike you (around the 2nd or 3rd listen) is that though the riffs are somewhat “familiar”, Thomas & crew have arranged them so that they’re “different” than you’ve ever heard…. fused jazz blues, old-style be-boppin’ bangups & high-end percussive tunes that will make your ears soar in ways they never quite imagined before. I definitely would recommend headphones on the first listen, so you’ll be zoomed in, & totally without distraction, because this is not going to be something you can “anticipate”. The group is highly talented, but seeking new directions for their energies…. you’ll be pleasantly surprised, & (I predict) will fall in love with this album by the second go-round. This is a unique album, one you won’t soon forget, & will be proud to have in yourcollection. I enjoyed the music thoroughly, & it gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from us, especially for jazz listeners who want to taste aural treats with an aura of excitement about them. —Rotcod Zzaj
O’Place Jazz Newsletter 
Steve Thomas – Jaz-mobi Project
O’s Notes: Guitarist Steve Thomas is the adventurous type, a composer that takes the unexpected turn with his songs. The melodies are typically single note guitar sometimes shadowed by sax. The set starts off swinging but half way through the second cut, they break into a sultry blues and the fun begins! “Looking Up” is more contemporary cool followed by “Breeze on a Bay” with its mild Latin beats. By this point we’ve given up on type casting Thomas with his vast array of interests. This project, his 2nd release as a leader is a sophisticated contemporary session. — D. Oscar Groomes 
“Thomas’s stuff blends nouveau-bop, blues and world music into a uniquely peppy,poppy fusion sound.” -Bill Beuttler, Jazz Critic/Boston Globe 
A really nice CD with some manifestations of Passport-itis. You may recall how in the 1970s and 1980s we got to know the thinking person’s hyperpop-Jazz German quartet Passport through their highly varied LPs on Atlantic Records. Seems the band never landed completely in any one style: Zappa-like 12-tone melodic extensions, pop fluff, high-octane workouts, a smidge of free playing, and some Coltrane-like ballads. And sometimes, all of the above simultaneously. Some critics huffed at the lack of cogency but I say if you’re good at a lot of things, ‘focus’ is an overrated attribute. Witness Jaz-Mobi Project, a floating collective of 7 to 9 musicians (depending on what track you’re listening to) largely under the aegis of guitarist Steve Thomas (good taste in instruments there; he’s got anEpiphone hollow-body!), employing tabla-powered Easternmusk-fests with a Pat Metheny-like tune-around late in the melodic structure (“Breeze on a Bay,” in long and radio-friendly versions), stamping blueses (“Kylies’ I and II”), meditative acoustic run-throughs (“The Gift,” “Ponder”), even an instrumental worthy in its soulful strut of Ray Parker and Raydio (“Looking Up”). Yeah, not the most innovative music you’ll ever hear but comfortable with lots of pleasant surprises anyway. Dan Abrue appends a chubby, good-natured tenor sax here and there, synth envelopes drift open and trail off to good use courtesy of Thomas, Joey P. and Dale Ramsey, and the entire enterprise comes to a near-close on a questing, almost flamenco-like multitracked tour de force called “The Journey.” The reprise of “Breeze on a Bay” does underline the delicious combination of South Asian percussive structures with a sunny Brazilian melody. Like I said, small pleasures but numerous, and proof that Passport-itis still isn’t fatal. by Kenneth Egbert
As always, I looked on the CD cover, saw a blue-brown art design that reminded me of land and sky, beautiful nature that is around us. The title is ‘Jaz-Mobi Project’ and on CD a stunning, professional blues. Steve Thomas is not just a musician with talent, but also artist with great skills that gives his music artistic, stunning splash. In Steve’s compositions you will hear instruments as guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, sax and e-wi etc; talking to themselves, whispering simple questions of life and even if you don’t know the answers they will make sure to show it to you through building small pieces of images into one. Steve’s music is definitely wealthy in all ways of music and art, combining vivid images and abstract forms to build a visualization of a larger picture that will stick with you. Steve’s music will keep you on your toes till the end with surprises, turn, and the unbelievable will become believable.Definitely each and every song will make you visual many different pictures of lines and unknown shapes, and you will build your own images of what you see in a distance, what will become your future. Take a ‘Journey’ with Steve; build beautiful images with him, through a perfect, powerful, unpredictable, and full of surprises and detours. And there is more tunes and surprises on Steve’s CD ’Jaz-Mobi Project’, which is a must for you to hear and experience the blues licks as you never did before. Your knowledge for music will not just expand for a thing or two, but definitely for ideal art music. You can get his CD on amazon.com
Going way back… circa August 1999*
Maybe it’s just me, but lately when I put on a nice jazz CD I can’t help thinking about the finer things in life. I’m sure the fact that I just sold some stock has something to do with it, but not everything, as one might suspect. No, Earpollution hasn’t gone public, not in that manner anyhow, not yet. But our mailbox has been receiving an increasing number of jazz CDs for review.
The latest to come our way is the self-titled debut CD from a Boston-based quartet of jazz musicians. Sympatico features Stanley Swan on drums, Bob Ponte on keyboards, Maggie Rizzi on drums, and Steve Thomas on guitar. The album features eight original compositions written by Bob, Maggie, and Steve which range in style from mainstream contemporary jazz to jazz funk. During the recording process every effort was made by the band to maintain the chemistry and interplay of a live performance. All the tracks on Sympatico were recorded in three live in-studio sessions with the exception of track 8, “Danse & Lullaby.” This challenging process pays off as the listener is treated to a fresh and spirited performance.
The first track that really jumped out at me was “Can’t Find It.” Stevie’s guitar work on this number (which he also wrote) was reminiscent of two favorite jazz guitarists of mine: Jonathan Butler and George Benson. Robert’s keyboard solo had me longing for a warm summer day by the ocean in a brand new pearl white Audi A4, with the quattro all-wheel drive system. As I effortlessly guide my new car along with the snaking road with the full ocean view, “Can’t Find It” provides the perfect pace for an exhilarating musical and driving experience. The only thing that could make this experience any better is having that someone special riding shotgun with a picnic basket for two in the back.
“No Rage,” written by Maggie Rizzi, is a ’70s-styled bass slappin’ jazz funk tune. Every time I play this number I can’t help but hear “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” by Sly and the Family Stone in the opening seconds as Maggie solos. Here, my shopping list of things to buy with my stock money turns into more of a wishful-thinking list, as my heart yearns for the joy of owning my own night spot. The rest of the tracks on Sympatico were solid and are best described as spirited contemporary jazz. Perfect for this time of year as a musical backdrop to the warm and sunny days of summer.
-Cecil Beatty-Yasutake
Circa 1995
