Listening Room...
The liner notes.
These don't actually appear on the current "handmade" version of the CD—not enough space. But here they are, in case you're interested...
Reunion
This is a guitar solo played on my Guild archtop with a combination
of straight pick and fingers. The two voices start out apart and then
join together.
In Her Own Words
Fingerstyle guitar solo on the same archtop. Composed while watching
the infamous Clarence Thomas hearings on TV...was it 1990? Was it '91?
'89? George who?
Turn out the Stars
(Bill Evans)
Solo guitar treatment with an introduction that takes a cubist approach
to the chords. I don't know why there aren't a dozen guitar versions of
this tune—the changes are fascinating. Jim Hall does a great job
playing it with Bill Evans.
I found out there are words to this when I licensed it, though I've never
heard or seen them. I understand Evans wrote this for his father.
After They Turn
out the Stars
This came out one day after playing/meditating on Turn out the Stars
for several hours. And then the tune wouldn't end and it turned into a
sort of "Wooden Ships" interlude.
Can't Go with You
For Rob and Anne.
Tooth Fairy
Played on a Yamaha electric classical guitar. The internal mic/pickup
busted right before the session, so it's mic'ed with an SM57 and an AKG
C1000. Plenty of squeaks and scrapes, not to mention the boxy tone, but
there it is. One can only hope that the future holds Neuman microphones
for those who practice hard.
The Blues Will
Find You
Some basic blues gestures with an easy-listening bridge. I'm still looking
for the right way to play this.
Leap Year
Written years ago when things were very dissonant and pure.
Daylily
Written on the porch of my sister's house on Cape Cod. Sounds like it,
even with the pseudo-backward music in the background.
In Your Absence
An authentically brooding piece played on a classical guitar with the
dynamics going all over the place and the performer's grunts clearly audible.
Some crunchy dissonance at the turnarounds.
Bamboo Forest
(Scratched from the final version of the CD; destined for Ken and Rick's
greatest hits, due out...someday soon.)
We picked a nice altered scale, detuned the guitar to match the flute,
and went for it. Ken Lipman-Stern played the bamboo flute (brilliantly)
and clarinet (soulfully). (Apologies offered to those who feel that 16
minutes of bamboo flute/classical guitar improv is self-indulgent. But
things do happen in there, and some of it's pretty nice.)
