Album Notes

Dave Palmer is an experienced session pianist who is known for his work with Air, Fiona Apple, Seal, Chris Isaak, Joe Henry, Bobby Previte, Wayne Horvitz, MC 900 Foot Jesus, Aimee Mann, Solomon Burke, Turin Brakes, Cake, Lindsey Buckingham and many more...
Dave writes in the liner notes for ROMANCE...
This recording had it's early beginnings in a hotel room in paris
over two years ago. i was on tour and somehow wrangled a digital piano
to be rented and delivered to my room. i spent the next three days
playing whatever came to mind and drinking red wine, quite peaceful and
open to the vibe of my surroundings. by the second day a composition
emerged seemingly of it's own volition. it was 'romance #1', the piece
which opens this recording. it was named in just such a manner from
it's inception as i felt it embodied my sentimental impressions of
those rainy parisian days and also because i instinctively felt there
would be more compositions to follow in the footsteps of this piece.
flash forward to summer 2005. i had been harboring an idea for a
piano recording project for several months. i had what i felt were a
nice handful of compositions that embodied a particular esthetic which
i wanted to pour into a collective work. i was unsure of how to bring
it all to fruition or even if my ideas would be cogent once put
together in reality. luckily for me i ran into ethan johns at just the
right time.
my friend and wonderful singer/songwriter juliana raye had been
affiliated with ethan for quite sometime. after i had bumped into her
at a show in hollywood she asked if i would come to ethan's studio and
play on some of her new songs, an offer to which i readily agreed. it
was during this session that i initiated a creative relationship with
ethan and fell in love with his piano.
the instrument was a bluthner grand from the early 1900's. as soon as
i played it i knew i had to record some of my own music using it as a
medium. i approached ethan with the idea and we intially decided to
swap my services as a session musican for recording time on the piano
with ethan at the controls. after the first day of recording we both
felt that a collective project was in order and thus we embarked upon a
series of recording dates(i believe there were six in total) which led
to the collection of material which stands as the finished work at
hand.
as to the material of which this recording is comprised i would
firstly state that it all falls under an umbrella of a particular mood
or sonic pallette which had been in my mind for quite sometime. this
mood was one both somber and beautiful, melancholy and hopeful. the
final process of picking particular songs, versions, and order of play
was deftly accomplished by ethan. his ear in the actual process of
recording and in terms of the vibe of individual performance was
indespensable to the creation of this record.
seven of the ten pieces on the record are solo piano pieces with the
first four being played as written in more of a 'classical' mode than
the latter numbers which are mostly interpretations of two of my
favorite jazz composers, thelonious monk and horace silver
respectively.
there are two trio moments the first of which happens at the end of
my favorite Big Star song 'big black car'. i played through a great
many songs to find the vibe i was looking for in this very trippy tune.
the beautiful outro chords are a perfect backdrop for a lushly
psychedelic interaction which ethan and my former texas compatriot
edwin livingstone accomplished beyond what i could have explained to
them verbally. ethan's drums and edwin's bass make another appearance
on carla bley's haunting 'ida lupino'. one of my favorite melodies in
any style of music, it was a song that had been in my brain for months
and as soon as we stared playing it i knew it was right on the money
for this record. horace silver's 'peace finishes the record and is the
final interactive moment as edwin once again appears to fill out the
sonic idea. it is a simple double statement of the melody. i felt the
inherent perfection of this songs stood out most starckly with the
least amount of meddling. i hope that it's message is both coherent and
viable in this crazy world.
to sum this all up i would simply say that this record was a pleasure
to make and, i sincerely hope, a pleasure to hear. i am grateful to all
involved especially ethan and look forward to making more music soon.
thank you for listening.


dave palmer