Album Notes

From REACH IN THIS DREAM:

Hiding quiet
in the
shade
of this
guitar
are
sounds
never
played
never
been
sung
never
been taught
never been lonely
never been caught
When the wood has worn
away, still hiding in the air . . .
What chart is yet to be unrolled?
What rough music will unfold?

not for love not for hire
not for time not for fire

When we call them by their names
they hear but they won’t come out . . .

Maybe there’s not so many to be found
maybe inside there’s just one sound . . .

in this guitar one’s a lot It’s all we need
and it’s all we got Every guitar
in the world, I hear, is
just like this


Tom Ross's new collection of global jazz songs, REACH IN THIS DREAM, is funny, thoughtful, and sensual. "In This Guitar" coaxes out words lurking in the instrument, and realizes that any artistic tool has endless potential. Distilled from 9th-century Japanese tanka poems, "Float Us in the Wine" shows lovers' longing in exquisite and timeless little tableaux. And the funny-sad "Turning Ten" exposes the loss upon reaching the double digits, springing from a poem by Billy Collins:

Turning ten the sadness begins
Say fond goodbye to my make-believe friends
If you cut me, I'd shine(that's what I believed)
But now my knees hit the sidewalks
They open and bleed

Like Ross's other collections, REACH is guitar-based, rooted in jazz and influenced by the musics of India and Africa. The rhythms are accessible even if they have triple-seven beats from South India. And a lick from the Tuareg nomads of Africa finds a familiar home on the guitar in the title cut.

Supported by a stellar band of bass, drums, saxophones and singers, REACH IN THIS DREAM is deep enough for repeated listening, while maintaining an easy surface -- reflecting the sexy, pensive, and laughable human condition.