Album Notes

These 17 pieces, ranging from two to six minutes, seem to me like compact adventures – like stories or poems without words. I’m attracted to music that affects me in a deeper place and those who own these have said that that’s their need as well. Each piece has its more special moments, but all of the surrounding music prepares the way and is part of the drama, so that an arrow might arrive that penetrates further.

Improvising is, of course, composing, only one doesn’t have time to stop and polish. My aim has been to create music that has structure -- at least a beginning (sometimes the searching part is left in), a middle, and a conclusion. Within this structure there may be many themes and melodies that play off one another and interweave. Most of these works come into being the way a plant grows, the full blossoming (which may be quiet) usually coming near the end.

The next day, they’re either deleted or, if saved, I determine only where to start and stop. There is no editing (except for a total of three edits in over 75 improvisations). When listening the next day, I’m astonished because I feel that the person who produced them is not the same as the one who is listening back! The names, which naturally come afterward, are often uncannily appropriate; some examples: “The Transfiguration of a Chrysalis,” “The Cranes Are Flying into Summer,” “Journey to the Secret Garden,” When improvising I don’t think about words.

Recordings were made on an old upright with a strange microphone and includes some glitches. For these piano improvisations, the “imperfections” lend a sense of place, of actually being present at the time. Two more albums (Deepening and Opening) will be up by mid-November. A fourth album (Venturing) will be coming out in early 2010.