Album Notes

"Like A Bird In The Wilderness" was written with "Blue" Gene Tyranny's playing style and sense of musical structure in mind. We asked him to improvise on five related note-rows in sequence, but also asked him to feel free to depart from those rows as he saw fit. The computer-driven system that listened to and accompanied him was programmed for those rows, and much of it would respond only when he played on the specified note row of the moment. Some other parts would record his musical gestures and then re-insert them into the piece, often modified, at a later time, while other parts listened to his playing and made new note rows and chords from that information, and still other parts played predetermined notes and chords that would play even if "Blue" did nothing at all. This was mostly accomplished with a large number of simple MAX patchers running on two computers, which in turn played the several synths and samplers accompanying "Blue".