Album Notes

"Particle" - new solo CD by Jim Sande

This CD is made up of 5 suites. The suite names come from topics examined while writing and designing the music. These are concepts I study, think about, and have a strong interest in. They form a focal point for my music work.
"Particle" deals with the microcosmic, viewing the world at the micro-thin and extra-subtle level. This is about the invisible ways we are all connected in this world. A basic example would be the air that we continuously exchange and inter-breathe, or how we all are involved in the gentlest of physical interconnection, through our senses and physiological commonalities even when we fail to acknowledge each other's presence.
"Condition" in this context is from the Tibetan Buddhist teaching on the five skandas or the five heaps. The skandas form ordinary mind. Condition is the fourth skanda. This led me to the theme of conditional love for this suite.
"Deva Putra Mara" is the Tibetan Buddhist term for suffering caused through desire. I chose to work with the themes of corruption, lying, and war. In America at this time it is hard not to think about these topics regardless of where you stand politically. I chose to include some songs in this suite because I felt the need to make a direct and non-abstract statement here.
"Suite Bomba" is Italian for Bomb Suite. The theme chosen on the 2005 anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Bomb Waltz" is the central piece in this suite. It is stark, raw, and sounds close to the listener, as if a performance were happening in your immediate space.
"Equus" is Latin for calm; experienced either at rest or in motion. This suite and the CD ends with "Swan Lane Lullaby." Throughout my career I've had a thing for lullabies.
These five suits in sequence form the subtext of a story line. The subtext progresses from the beginning, to relationship, to failure, to recognition, to perspective.
The piano is the main instrumental sound on the CD. The other sounds used are vibes, double bass, string sounds, clarinet, oboe, along with electronic sounds of various origin, voice, guitars, and percussion.
The work was created in an improvisational manner. Nineteen of the twenty pieces on the CD originally began as a brief piano part. The exception, "Meta Turn," is a four part guitar piece with piano in the A section. All types of midi and sound file editing techniques were freely used in a variety of musical forms. I recorded the music in my home studio using a Mac G5 and Digital Performer.