Doc Jazz turns a new page in 2026

Hey folks! I am back to making music. And it’s with a new approach to the whole thing. If you’re interested, read on! And I will share four new songs with you!

There have been several times in my life when I’ve been too busy to make music, or unable to for other reasons. As I mentioned before, the Gaza genocide completely blocked my musical creativity. I released All About The Benjamins during the January 2025 (short-lived) ceasefire.

Now, they say there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but anyone who knows anything, knows that this is not the case. At the very most, we can say that in terms of hard numbers, less people are being mass-murdered than before. It’s brutal. Unforgivable. Inexcusable. It is pure evil.

Gaza City Blues

However, as music is a part of me, when the level of killing was reduced, all that pent-up musicality that was caged by mass murder bubbled up and started flowing out of me. The first one actually came before the October ‘ceasefire’, on August 21. It was ‘Gaza City Blues‘. What happened was that I was traveling, with my travel recording kit, and I created a blues track, and then just kept soloing to it on my guitar. I was rusty as hell, but because I played about 60 minutes of guitar solos, I was able to piece together enough solo parts to come up with something presentable.

Then I realized I had not picked the right key for my voice, but after all that work, I refused to give up. I used Flex Edit in Logic to make sure I was able to reach the high notes, which is why my voice sounds heavily edited in that recording (because it is). Also, my travel kit microphone isn’t all that good … but I felt a sense of relief when I published the song. I named it Gaza City Blues, or ‘Maimed’, still not sure what is the best title. And, as I had time while on my travels, I filled the video itself with important messages about Gaza. I will post the song at the bottom of the page so you can have a listen. It clocks in at 7:45 minutes, so make sure you are in a ‘bluesy mood’ when you listen!

Dead Man Walking

When the Gaza ‘ceasefire’ started, I was back in my music studio soon enough. But I couldn’t get Gaza out of my mind. I was thinking about Palestinian men just like me, who were in the hell-hole of mass murder and mass destruction. I imagined being one of them (which I am sure is impossible), and as it goes with me, it suddenly turned into a song. Dead Man Walking started with a riff on my guitar. If you listen to the lyrics, you will understand the visuals that the song evokes. Or, at least, I hope you will. On social media, in my private circles, I got a lot of positive feedback on the song. As you have probably noticed, however, I don’t do much in terms of promotion anymore. Anyway: I hope you will check out the song. The Youtube video will also be posted down at the bottom of this page.

Turn a New Page

I know some of you have been following me since the year 2001, when I first started publishing my music in a serious way. If you are one of these people, then maybe you will remember that in 2005, I released a song called ‘Turn a New Page‘. However, I was never satisfied with how it turned out. Somewhere around 2010 or so, I deleted it from all places where it had been published online. In November, I remembered the song, and started rebuilding it in my studio. And I seriously LOVE how it turned out! I revisited the mix every now and then, for weeks and weeks, until I was happy with how it sounded. I hope you do too. Check it out at the bottom of the page!

Gratitude

Now this one has a crazy story behind it. In 1997 (yes, that long ago!) I composed a song on electric piano. My normal music-writing process is: I get inspiration, I sit down behind an instrument (either guitar or piano), and within 15 to 30 minutes, I have a whole song, with melody, words, and chords. But with that specific song, all I got stuck on was the song structure in chords. I loved the riffs that I was playing; but whatever I tried, no words or melody ever came. Apparently (although I don’t remember), I recorded the chords of the whole song the way I was playing it.

Then, a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon it while digging up some material from some old disks. And lo and behold! There was the recording! As I listened to it, again and again, suddenly the magic happened. I got melody, and words, and everything. Twenty minutes later, I had loaded the old piano recording in Logic, and was singing my new words to it. Name of the song: Gratitude.

Now, I had to rebuild the whole song from scratch. Surprisingly, I could still play the song on my electric piano! However, the process to create the song was painstaking. I especially spent a lot of time getting the drums ‘right’. You be the judge of whether I did a good job at that, or not. But here’s what I am really happy about: this song, especially because it’s from that time almost 30 years ago, really is the ‘Doc Jazz’ signature style! I don’t think that style creates hits. But it really brings out what I feel, with that mix of blues, jazz, funk and rock that just lives in my veins! Please give the song a listen here below.

A hint of what’s coming

Well, I am back in the studio. I am actually working on multiple songs at the same time. This is my biggest wave of creativity since at least 15 years! And I am truly enjoying it so much. There are several songs that are close to completion, but I am taking my time. Because I now look at publishing music very differently than before.

I used to be obsessed by wanting to create a hit song about Palestine. The closest I came to that was with 3 of my songs: Intifada, Stare it in the Face, and more recently, All About The Benjamins. But they were still very far from being ‘hits’, of course. I was aware that this obsession was killing my joy in making music, although I won’t deny it pushed me into a high level of productivity.

Now I am rediscovering the pure joy of songwriting, playing the parts, creating the compositions and arrangements, and then that final (and so very challenging) chore of mixing and production.

I totally don’t care anymore how many people listen to my songs. And I know that this is an easy thing to write – but it’s actually true. Who am I kidding, anyway? What’s left of the old days, when people zoomed in on a song? Those days are gone forever. Music is background noise to this generation, it’s only about moods. No one can be blamed for this; it’s what happens when there are millions of songs available to you at all times, anytime. And I’ve decided to turn that into a blessing. I’m just going to only create what I love, and enjoy every second of making it. If people listen, that’s great. If they don’t – no problem at all!

Gone ‘bluesy’

Well, 2024 was a disastrous year. And to be honest, 2025 was too. It was barely any better; it was void of uplifting experiences. So does that bring out the blues in me? Well, what do you think?

I am deeply grateful that I have my guitar to express myself that way. It doesn’t change things; but there is that tiny bit of where you feel different about things once you’ve let them out that way. Maybe some musician is reading this, and thinking: yes, I know what you’re saying.

With all that said, I say alhamdulillah (Praise to God). This is the word that always puts peace in your heart, if you say it because you really feel it. And I do.

Check out these songs on Youtube!

Here are the four songs I mentioned above, in the same order. Hope you enjoy!

(Maimed) Gaza City Blues

You can call this song ‘Maimed’, or Gaza City Blues. You choose. Warning: only listen to this one if you’re in the mood for a long blues song. However, I do think it’s worth it, for two reasons: the emotion of the song builds up quite well, by both the vocals and the intensity of the guitar solos – and the second reason is: the video has some important messages.

Dead Man Walking

An audience favorite: not so much on Youtube, but from people in my daily life who have heard this song. I think it’s quite a painful song, but as you understand, it is meant to be. It relates to me personally as well, not only to Gaza. My lead vocal goes all out, not holding back in any way. And yes: it is bluesy, because with this dark theme, that’s the mood you need.

Turn a New Page

This song will always remind me of my dear friend Walid Itayim, because back in 2005 when I released it, he really liked it. He said so a few times. Whenever I said that I was very unsatisfied with the production of it, he said: so redo it! Here’s to you in heaven, my dear friend. I finally did it!

Gratitude

What can I say about this song? I’ve said it all in the article above. It’s very special to me; both musically and in terms of its message, but I won’t elaborate on that.