Album Notes

FLIGHTPATTERNS documents the first meeting between Open Graves (Paul Kikuchi and Jesse Olsen) and trombonist Stuart Dempster. The meeting place, the Dan Harpole Cistern in Port Townsend, WA, with its 45 second reverb time, is said to be one of the most reverberant spaces on earth. All three musicians, Dempster in particular, have spent many hours in the cistern over the years exploring the sonic nuances of the space, which is apparent in the music they create on FLIGHTPATTERNS.

Using a broad array of traditional and invented instruments, the ensemble creates low rumbling drones, delicate minimalist passages, and psychedelic free jazz, all influenced and shaped by the unique acoustics of the space. Since the FLIGHTPATTERNS session the collaboration between Dempster, Kikuchi, and Olsen has continued at venues such as the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle and the Festival for People and Thingamajigs in San Francisco. FLIGHTPATTERNS marks the beginning of this fruitful collaboration.

Prefecture Records is pleased to release this album as a 6 panel CD and a limited edition LP. Both feature beautiful Sumi drawings by Renko Ishida Dempster. Order yours today!