Album Notes

"Some Sort of Angel brings the fire of a personal vision to a contemporary acoustic sound." With a clarity and warmth these words express how I feel about my work, and the love I have for the art of music making. Throughout my experience as a composer and guitarist, I have always found that my thoughts and feelings are more accurately expressed through purely instrumental music, benignly shedding poetic images rather than writing around them.This internal sculpting of time and tone being completely free of external imagery, opens a space into an experience of the perfect abstraction, seen only through the eye of pure imagination. It has always fascinated me since I was very young, and I still sense its magic whenever I touch the fingerboard. About the music here, one very important choice made during the writing was in not using the rhythmic effects traditionally heard in the 'grounding' or 'heavier' feel most commonly associated with instruments found in the percussion family such as trap drums or congas. Except for the simple dumbek introduction to the first tune, the full rhythmic motion is carried by the interplay of complex guitar fingerpickings and bass lines punctuated by vibraphone and mandolin, all of which are inately percussive by design. This kind of rhythm feel lets the sax and flute melodies soar. I want the listener to experience a sense of sailing just above the ground brushing it only occasionally with the finger tips, yet always supported. Impressions of India, Spain, Brazil, American and European Jazz, classical, and particular folk forms, can be heard throughout the musical arrangements though not always explicitly. Imagine a musical suite with the band playing the role of a 'pan-cultural' chamber ensemble. There's a story here in a set of tone poems each moving smoothly one to another,each a unique voice within a greater whole. Oregon, The Paul Winter Consort, Ralph Towner, Carla Bley, Jan Garbarek, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, Francisco Tarrega, Duke Ellington, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar, and Joni Mitchell are just a few of many who come to mind as influences in my development as an artist. And throughtout this recording, the impression of Manfred Eicher at his European label ECM is inescapably present. Many thanks and appreciation must go to artist Karen Brooks whose beautiful pastel graces the CD cover and for her unique and colorful papercut illustrations which dot my website, Mason Singer at Laughing Bear Graphics whose design work captured the sounds of this CD perfectly, Chuck Eller of Charles Eller Studios for his considerable abilities and talents as studio wizard and co-producer, and for his constant support from the beginning of this project support, Roscoe Brooks who opened the door to the on-line world and HTML to me of course, Derek Sivers, Michelle Kaeder and the great people at CDbaby, and most of all to bassist Clyde Stats, sax and flute player Gary Gordon, vibraphonist Mark vanGulden, and mandolinist Jamie Masefiaseld without whose dedication and musical gifts this music would not have breath. I hope you will enjoy listening to this music as much as I enjoyed making it.