Album Notes

This album was recorded in early 2001 and features Peter Evans on trumpet, Charles Evans on baritone sax, and Allan Baker on piano. The music is a collection of compositions from my years in Ohio, augmented by an arrangement of Ornette Coleman's "Peace" and a Charles Evans composition, "Blues for Hawes." This album creates a very definite mood from start to finish, featuring dynamic solos by each member of the ensemble, and, as a whole, explores the murky area between Jazz and purely improvised music. While each composition is based on the standard jazz form of "theme-improvisation-theme," each pushes this form in a different direction. For instance, the uneven phrases and polychords of "Talked Down," the cycling melody of "Fuzzy," the serialist "Penalty Box," rhythmic displacement of "Peace," or the "Evans Changes" of "Blues for Hawes" all deviate to varying degrees from traditional jazz. The title composition, which occurs twice, is a reflective piece that is at once melancholy and optimistic and includes 2 beautiful solos by Peter Evans and Allan Baker. The reprise is a duet between myself and the spectacular tenor saxophonist, Kelly Roberge, my longtime friend, associate and partner in crime. I hope you enjoy it.