Numerology Ology Virtual Liner Notes

This post is meant to serve as a kind of virtual liner notes to my CD, Numerology Ology, released 9-18-2012.

Anyone who viewed my kickstarter project knows how this music came about, but in case you didn't:

Every year I play a concert at the school where I teach. In 2011 my concert was booked on November, 11th, which made the date 11.11.11. The school is called Third Street Music School Settlement, but it isn't on 3rd street; it's on 11th. So I was playing a concert at Third Street on 11th street on 11.11.11. 

Of course I had to do something about all these numbers! I considered writing a piece for 11 musicians in 3/4 time signature. In the end I decided to write a suite of music, with each piece being in a different time signature, up to 11/4. It was my goal to not make this a nerdy musician exercise just for the sake of interesting rhythms. I wanted to just make good music, that so happens to be in a bunch of different time signatures. 

Once the music was written, I ran a kickstarter project to raise funds to record it. I recorded it the right way, with professional engineers in a real studio. It's expensive, and worth it, to do it this way. The fact that the community formed on kickstarter allowed me to do this still kind of blows my mind.  

To paraphrase any number of people, writing about music is like fishing about architecture, but here are a few words about each of the tunes:

Alive!

In 5/4, this piece represents that which beats your heart and breathes your lungs - a tribute to the essence of life that we all share, Eivind Opsvik's bass ostinato sets the foundation and Jeff Davis' drum solo churns and explodes in joyful fury. 

Being Nine

When I was a boy, I'd ride my bicycle around the small Minnesota town where I grew up, chasing friends, collecting soda cans and racing to the swimming pool. My solo on this track with pianist Rob Curto recreates the playful vibe of coloring outside the lines, pushing the threshold of what's allowed to get into trouble, but not too much trouble. 

Short Piece No. 1

A quartet in 11 for Threeds and electric guitar, this track really showcases the ability of these three double-reedists to play as one. It's an honor to work with such a cohesive group. 

Severed

In 7/4, the title refers to the disjointed nature of the different sections of the tune, as well as the guitar on which I play, a Frankenstein Stratocaster (some call them partscasters) which was assembled from different parts of a few guitars.

Ralphhead

Inspired in equal parts by the music of Ralph Towner and Radiohead, this piece is the only music on the record in 4/4, or what is called common time. Threeds play beautifully as does Rob Curto on piano. 

O Waltz

Threeds shines again on this tune in 3/4, which I actually wrote on piano trying to write some film music. The solo sections featuring the oboe of Kathy Halvorson reveal my love of music from different cultures. 

Only the Trying

The title refers a line from the following T.S. Eliot poem, which moved me as I was preparing for this project.

So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—

Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres

Trying to use words, and every attempt

Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure

Because one has only learnt to get the better of words

For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which

One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture

Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate

With shabby equipment always deteriorating

In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,

Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer

By strength and submission, has already been discovered

Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope

To emulate—but there is no competition—

There is only the fight to recover what has been lost

And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions

That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.

For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business. 

All Are One

This piece is in 1/1 time signature, each chord serving as it's own harmonic landscape. I play it once through on piano, and on the repeat Eivind explores these landscapes via brilliant improvisations on his bass. 

Sita

Inspired by North African music, this bottom-heavy groove divides the 6 beats per measure in a way that American musicians are not that used to playing. Deceptively challenging to realize, Bryan Murray plays a wonderfully personal solo and Threeds' Katie Scheele drives home the polyrhythmic accompianment with grit and determination. 

Short Piece No. 2 Duolo

I wrote the melody for English Horn, and improvised the accompaniment on guitar. Duolo is a word I invented as a combination of duo and solo, but later I learned that it actually means grief or sorrow in Italian. Yeah, that about captures it. Katie's gentle interpretation is a lovely and perfect way to end the record.