Album Notes

A DAY IN THE NOW

We AWAKEN to the gifts of a new day: the WONDER of nature's inspiration. We are AT PEACE in meditation. Our search for KNOWLEDGE calls us and thus we ENCOUNTER the unknown. It is the NATURE OF TRUTH that it brings understanding. The renewal of INTENTION will lead us to NEARNESS and reconciliation. In GRATITUDE we emerge into the light.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING…

"...[their music] touches the listener's heart from the first chords and does not release his attention until the last seconds...filled with beauty and grace...the main feature of their music is that it brings the wish to live."
- Serge Kozlovsky, Radio Minsk

"Simply, [this CD] it's SO WONDERFUL! No words for describing the beauty of these improvisations. It has been on heavy rotation since I received it. Congratulations! - Francisco Manuel Lopez Herrero, RÀDIO DESPÍ

“…beautiful. Thanks for the heartfelt and thoughtful music. Gorgeous. I dig your sound and ideas.” – Donny McCaslin, Grammy nominated tenor saxophonist.

"Fantastic Album" - Alex Pijnen, BRTO Radio, Netherlands

"...new and inspiring." - Carole Hayes, Shoalhaven Radio, Australia

“Gorgeous…your melodies, your phrasing, you got that kinda Jan Garbarek feel, but then you got your own thing. Just gorgeous” – Gary Regina, producer and sax-player for Sista Monica Parker

“…There are passages that are so beautiful and so full of human spirit that they really resonate, reminding me of the lift you get when someone you love enters the room…” – Phil C, fan

“…just marvelous. I love it so much... I'm inseparable from it.” – Sara B, fan

Solomon and Alm first met in the mid-nineties. They quickly developed an easy rapport but didn’t start working together until 2006. “Art has this amazing ability to write in the moment. He supports what I play rhythmically, melodically and harmonically and makes sense out of practically anything I do. He’s an incredible listener” says Solomon. Their first album “A Day in The Now” is completely improvised, it is an emotional journey - a musical meditation on living in the moment.

Pete Solomon grew up listening to classical music but from an early age was also influenced by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, John Coltrane and Dexter Gordon. An accomplished singer in his youth, he took up the saxophone in his earlier twenties, his dedication and passion for music soon resulting in a professional career. Before the age of thirty, Pete had played across Europe including France, Spain Italy and Greece. Although he began on the alto, he really started to find his own voice playing the Conn curved soprano that is now his main instrument “...it's from the 1930's and it has it's challenges but I just love the tone. Listening to Jan Garbarek has been a great influence".

Art Alm, got his start in music at age 9 as a trumpet player in his school band. He started piano lessons at age 13 when his trumpet teacher, Louis Pontecorvo, told him "If you want to continue your study of music in the future, you should start learning piano now". His early influences were Thelonius Monk and Bill Evans. After attending college in the midwest, Art followed his love of music to California, where he co-founded the short-lived band Notes From Underground. He studied for four years with legendary Bay Area pianist Dick Hindman. “Dick was my most influential teacher …I spent a fair portion of the nineties trying to absorb his deep meditations on the intricate relationships between piano playing, listening, improvising, and the human mind”. Meanwhile he was working any job he could find that involved playing piano, from ballet classes, school choirs and church gigs, to touring and recording with Dayan Kai's band Water and Keith Greeninger.