Yoko Miwa Trio - Songs of Joy (February 2021 Ubuntu Music)

Yoko Miwa Trio offers a beacon of optimism during dark times on spirited new album 

Songs of Joy, due out February, 2021 via Ubuntu Music, features the pianist’s longtime trio with drummer Scott Goulding and bassist Will Slater on songs by Billy Preston, Thelonious Monk, Richie Havens and Duke Jordan alongside new original compositions

“Yoko Miwa has been gifted with both extraordinary musical skills and the pure spirit that is necessary for great art. We love her musical gifts and her beautiful spirit as well.” – Ahmad Jamal

"The group dynamic bounces with joy… Oscar Peterson and Benny Green come to mind stylistically, with Miwa’s always engaging melodies dancing around propulsive rhythms." – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“Miwa is a virtuoso pianist with dazzling technique always in the service of interaction and exchange of ideas.”  – Donald Elfman, NYC Jazz Record

2020 was a trying year for all of us, and pianist Yoko Miwa suffered more than her fair share of challenges. Like most musicians during this unprecedented pandemic, she suddenly found herself without the opportunity to perform. The recording of her new album was postponed and her trio’s longtime home base, Les Zygomates Wine Bar & Bistro in Boston, closed its doors for good. Worst of all, her father passed away after a battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

So Miwa would certainly have been forgiven if her delayed return to the studio had resulted in an uncharacteristically somber set of music. Instead she emerged with Songs of Joy, a welcome dose of optimism and uplift that shines like a ray of hope through the dark clouds overhead. Due out February 12, 2021 via Ubuntu Music, Songs of Joy features Miwa’s longstanding trio with bassist Will Slater and drummer Scott Goulding, along with a guest appearance by bassist Brad Barrett, another regular collaborator. The album combines songs that have provided solace and inspiration to Miwa with five original pieces composed as a means of escape from the lockdown routine.

“Once the pandemic started, I decided to write something every day,” Miwa explains. “I just tried to sit down at the piano and play whatever I felt on that day. Of course I was frustrated, but I tried to stay positive.”

The songs that emerged from this less-than-ideal incubator reflect Miwa’s persevering spirit, her jazz-inspired spontaneity and her classically-trained virtuosity – all characteristics that have been recognized by no less an authority than legendary pianist Ahmad Jamal, one of Miwa’s idols. “At 90 years plus, I have known and heard most of the great pianists, [including] Art Tatum, Oscar Dennard, Phineas Newborn, Nat Cole, Dodo Marmarosa, Johnny Costa, Erroll Garner, and on and on,” Jamal says. “Not to mention the pianists performing the European Classical works that I have followed as well. In Pittsburgh where I was born, and where some of the aforementioned are also from, we had to study both American Classical Music as well as the European Classical forms. Yoko Miwa is the result of both worlds. She is amazing and will continue to grow.”

The Yoko Miwa Trio has been performing together regularly for a decade and a half, with a Saturday night residency at Les Zygomates for much of that tenure. For the past several years they’ve also spent Friday nights at the Cambridge sushi bar The Mad Monkfish. At least once a year they perform there with legendary singer Sheila Jordan, who introduced Miwa to Billy Preston’s “Song of Joy.” The tune, which also inspired the title of the album, is suffused with warmth and deep emotions in the trio’s intimate, reverent rendition. The idea expressed in Preston’s simple, heartfelt song – “With every note I play, I play with love… With all the happiness this melody brings” – provided the guiding spirit of the session.

The album opens with Richie Havens’ “Freedom,” which the singer-songwriter performed at Woodstock (as captured in the famed concert film). Miwa’s thunderous left hand reveals the inspiration of McCoy Tyner, and the tune’s mood channels the ecstatic spirituality of the classic John Coltrane Quartet.

Tyner is one of several formative influences to whom Miwa pays tribute through her original pieces on Songs of Joy. The boisterous swing of Bobby Timmons and Benny Green, two of the pianists whose brilliant sound was forged in the crucible of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, anchors the finger-snapping groove of “Small Talk.” The bright, dancing “The Rainbirds” was inspired by the compositional style of Kenny Barron. And the lush, elegant “Inside a Dream” bears the unmistakable imprint of perhaps Miwa’s most important idol, Bill Evans.

Naturally, Miwa’s compositions couldn’t help but be affected by the times in which they were written. The steely “Largo Desolato” feels haunted yet determined, evoking the unnaturally empty streets of New York City at the height of the pandemic. The gorgeous ballad “The Lonely Hours” is dedicated to Miwa’s father, who spent many of his final days alone due to quarantine conditions. “I couldn't go back to Japan to see him because of the pandemic,” she laments. “He was in the hospital alone; even my family couldn't be with him when he passed away. It was really sad.”

The rollicking “Tony’s Blues” was penned for Miwa by Tony Germain, former assistant chair of the piano department at Berklee College of Music, where Miwa is an associate professor. “Tony wrote this song for me right before the original recording date, and I really liked it,” Miwa says. “He just retired, so this is a great present for him.”

The work of Thelonious Monk is a constant in Miwa’s repertoire, and here she performs a muscular take on one of her favorites, “Think of One.” Sheila Jordan also provided an entrée to the blistering “No Problem,” a piece by the singer’s ex-husband, pianist Duke Jordan, that has become a staple of the trio’s sets. The album ends with a reflective take on the folk classic “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” by way of the famous Led Zeppelin version and graced by Brad Barrett’s entrancing arco playing.

Despite a few months of enforced time off, the Yoko Miwa Trio hasn’t lost a step on Songs of Joy, their exhilarating chemistry evident and lively throughout the album’s many moods. Circumstances may have been far from ideal (“This is definitely the first album I recorded with a mask on,” Miwa laughs), but it ends up offering a balm for beleaguered audiences. “When we went into the studio, it had been four months since I’d played with my trio,” Miwa recalls. “I was a little bit nervous, but once we got there I felt so excited and inspired by being together again. That joy and happiness came up from my music. Everything was joy, and I hope the listener can hear it too.”

1. Freedom (Richie Havens)

2. Largo Desolato (Yoko Miwa)

3. Song of Joy (Billy Preston)

4. Small Talk (Yoko Miwa)

5. The Lonely Hours (by Yoko Miwa)

6. No Problem (Duke Jordan)

7. The Rainbirds (Yoko Miwa)

8. Think of One (Thelonious Monk)

9. Inside a Dream (Yoko Miwa)

10. Tony’s Blues (Tony Germain)

11. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (Anne Bredon)

Yoko Miwa - piano

Will Slater - bass

Scott Goulding - drums

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Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo - El Arte Del Bolero (2021 Miel Music)

Alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and pianist Luis Perdomo

Release duo album El Arte Del Bolero

via Miel Music

On September 28, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, alto saxophone icon Miguel Zenón and pianist Luis Perdomo recorded a concert at The Jazz Gallery in New York City which was livestreamed in November. When they listened to the recording of the concert, they knew it was something to share.

 

Miguel writes in the liner notes to the album: “As an instrumentalist, I spend a lot of my time working on making the saxophone an extension of my creative process. This process is always filtered through interpretation and expressiveness, and more often than not I find myself looking up to some of my favorite singers (people like Ismael Rivera, Cheo Feliciano and Andy Montañez) as sources of inspiration. In their individual voices I can hear a reflection of their unique personalities, all manifested at the highest level through their interpretation of songs. These melodies become vehicles for their creativity a canvas on which they’ll portray their feelings and states of mind. 

 

But these are not just any songs. These are songs they have heard hundreds of times, familiar pieces of music they know very well, and that is sort of the way I feel about the repertoire on this album. We chose compositions from the Bolero era that we could just play right away, without giving it a second thought: songs from the times of our parents and grandparents that somehow stuck around long enough for us to get to know them and truly love them. They are all as essential to our development as the music of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane or Thelonious Monk, but perhaps even more familiar. When we play these songs, we can hear the lyrics in the back of our minds—something that provides a very deep connection, one that is hard to replicate in any other situation. It really is almost beyond familiar. These songs are part of us.

 

We recorded this music as a live show, all in one take, without much preparation other than discussing tonalities and some basic elements on form. We were more than pleasantly surprised with the results and decided that they deserved to be shared. There is nothing like making music with someone else, finding a common language we can grab onto and then just going and exploring that together. We hope this comes across here, and that you enjoy the music.”

About The Music

- Como Fue: Popularized by the great Benny Moré, this song has long become a Latin-American standard. Luis and I have been playing the song for years, usually in the key of Eb. We decided to play it in Db here, mainly inspired by a recent immersion into the music of Billy Strayhorn.

- Alma Adentro: A song we previously recorded with a larger ensemble on a 2012 album of the same name. Sylvia Rexach, the composer of this piece, is a favorite of my mother’s, and I was exposed to her music as a young child. This is a song that always brings back feelings of longing and deep nostalgia, a yearning for things no longer there.

- Ese Hastío: Ray Barreto recorded this under the title of “Piensa En Mi” on his legendary 1979 album Rican-Struction, which is the version that Luis and I fell in love with. I had never played the song before, but Luis suggested it since he had recorded the piece as an instrumental on his album Pathways. It ended up fitting perfectly into our program.

- La Vida Es Un Sueño: Written by the Cuban genius Arsenio Rodriguez, a revolutionary artist who changed the course of Latin-American music forever. Blinded by a tragic accident as a child, Arsenio moved to the United States later in life in hope that doctors there could find a cure to his condition. Legend has it that, shortly after finding out from his doctors that this would not be the case, he wrote this song. The last verse says it all: “La realidad es nacer y morir / Porque llenarnos de tanta ansiedad / Todo no es mas que un eterno sufrir / El mundo esta hecho de infelicidad.”

- Que Te Pedí: Immortalized by Latin diva “La Lupe” in her seminal 1965 version (recorded with Tito Puente), this song has since become an anthem for lost love and heartbreak all over Latin-America. We had performed this before, but this was the first time we played it as a duo.

- Juguete: This classic, written by the legendary Bobby Capo, was popularized by Cheo Feliciano on his 1972 album La Voz Sensual de Cheo. It’s certainly of those songs that is constantly quoted everywhere and never gets old. We’ve been playing it for a while and decided to do it a little faster here, with an extended vamp at the end to close things out. 

1. Como Fue (Ernesto Duarte, Peer International Corp.) - 7:57

2. Alma Adentro (Sylvia Rexach, Peer International Corp.) - 9:45

3. Ese Hastío (Juan Manuel Solís Fernandez, Copyright Control SONY/ATV) - 6:47

4. La Vida Es Un Sueño (Arsenio Rodriguez Scull, Peer International Corp.) - 9:42

5. Que Te Pedi (Fernando Lopez Mulens/Gabriel Luna De La Fuente, Peer International Corp.) - 7:11

6. Juguete (Bobby Capó, Edward B. Marks Music Company) - 10:26

Miguel Zenón – Alto Saxophone

Luis Perdomo – Piano

Recorded Live at The Jazz Gallery (NY, NY) September 28th, 2020

Mixed by Danilo Pichardo and Miguel Zenón

Mastered by Danilo Pichardo

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Klaus Ignatzek & Susanne Menzel / In​-​Tandem (February 2021 nagel heyer records)

Bereits die ersten Takte der CD In-Tandem von Klaus Ignatzek und Susanne Menzel ziehen mich in ihren Bann - südamerikanische Rhythmen begrüßen den Hörer mit dem ersten Stück Samba de Amor und erzeugen unmittelbar gute Laune. Das gelingt nicht jeder Jazz-CD. Die Stimme der jungen Sängerin Susanne Menzel, die auf In-Tandem ihr Debüt gibt, beeindruckt durch ihre sinnliche Ausdruckskraft und ihr warmes Timbre. Überzeugend präsentiert sie die schwierigsten Gesangspassagen souverän und emotionsgeladen, diese Stimme hat eindeutig Star-Potenzial. Wie das Booklet verrät, stammen alle Songtexte aus der Feder von Susanne Menzel und so stellt sie neben ihren herausragenden Gesangsqualitäten gleich noch ihr lyrisches Talent unter Beweis. 

Keine oberflächlichen Floskeln erwarten den Hörer, sondern interessante Themen und Geschichten mit Tiefgang. Die Kompositionen auf In-Tandem schuf allesamt Klaus Ignatzek, der im In- und Ausland schon viele Jahre einen brillianten Ruf als Pianist und Komponist genießt. Entsprechend hoch sind meine Erwartungen an In-Tandem und sie sollen nicht enttäuscht werden. Die insgesamt 12 Stücke bieten eine große musikalische Bandbreite in unterschiedlichen Stimmungen, von kraftvoll und dynamisch bis ruhig und romantisch, das macht die CD sehr abwechslungsreich und spannend.

Klaus Ignatzeks Klavierspiel auf In-Tandem überzeugt durch enormen Einfallsreichtum und virtuose Soli, die er in eingängige Melodien einbettet und damit eindrucksvoll beweist, dass man als Jazzer der 1. Liga sehr wohl Songs auf höchstem Niveau komponieren kann, die nicht unmelodiös oder schwer zugänglich sein müssen. Die großartigen Bandmitglieder Peter Weniger, Saxophon, Martin Wind, Bass, und Hans Dekker, Drums, runden das Hörerlebnis nicht zuletzt dank ihrer großen Spielfreude gelungen ab. An In-Tandem werden außer der Jazz-Fangemeinde auch Musikliebhaber ihre Freude haben, die sich mit Jazz bislang etwas schwer taten, diese CD ist rundum empfehlenswert! (Liz Arden, kultura-extra)

1. Samba de Amor 04:36

2. Light in the Dark 07:38

3. Running Man 04:22

4. No Words 08:14

5. Message for Art 06:07

6. My Home 07:10

7. Her Own World 05:56

8. Herbie's Invitation 05:05

9. Close the Door 07:02

10. Roamin' 03:11

11. Time Will Tell 07:50

12. Chase the Time 06:00

All music composed by Klaus Ignatzek. All words by Susanne Menzel

Klaus Ignatzek – piano

Susanne Menzel – vocals

Peter Weniger – tenor saxophone

Martin Wind – bass

Hans Dekker – drums

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Michael and Peter Formanek – Dyads (2021 Out Of Your Head Records)

Michael and Peter Formanek started making music and improvising together before Peter started school. Regular visits to their home from friends and colleagues like Tim Berne, Jim Black, Marty Ehrlich and many others only served to normalize this as being an essential part of human interaction. During much of their time living in Baltimore and as Peter began to study music formally (first on guitar then on saxophones and woodwinds), it was just part of daily life to have musicians come by to play, rehearse, or just hang out. This eventually turned into regular groups and collaborations that performed in local venues in and around Baltimore. For Peter’s eighteenth birthday they played a night of Michael’s music at the Cornelia Street Cafe with a lineup of Tim Berne and Peter Formanek on saxophones, Jacob Sacks on piano, Jim Black on drums, and Michael Formanek on bass. Peter went to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2013 to study with the great Andrew Bishop, and sometime after Peter’s graduation in 2017 he and Michael decided to perform as a duo. They embarked on their first tour together in November 2019 spanning the upper midwest, mid-Atlantic, and northeastern US, and soon after booked a studio date to record the music presented here as Dyads.

Dyads (OOYH 008) is the debut recording by Michael and Peter Formanek as a duo. That being said, there are likely very few (if any) debut recordings that were a lifetime in the making, and that showcase such a deep musical connection as this one. Both musicians contribute compositions, and listeners will recognize the rhythmic deceit and compelling melodic twists that are distinguishing features of the elder Formanek’s style. While the compositions are strong and engaging, the true marvel of the recording, and what Michael and Peter have spent decades developing, is in the improvising. They follow one another through an incredible range of sonic territory, often turning on a dime in nearly telepathic displays of musical intuition (one might say it is in the DNA). One Formanek may also stubbornly hold their ground as the other bounces, scrapes, and squeals around it, but in a way that only serves the music, and creates an array of textures in what could be a limiting instrumental combination in less inventive hands.

To anyone even casually aware of the modern jazz scene, Michael Formanek is an instantly recognizable name, not only as one of the most formidable bassists active today, but as a singular and prolific compositional voice. Immediately upon hearing him (either live or on recording) listeners are drawn to the deep, dark tone he produces on the bass, as well as a virtuosic technique and nimbleness that truly no other performer on the instrument can replicate. What is remarkable, and obvious just a few minutes into Dyads, is that at the young age of 25 Peter Formanek has already started to develop a similarly unique voice on reeds. There are the obvious influences of those prominent saxophonists (Berne, Ehrlich, etc) that were in his orbit at a very young age, and it is easy to make a comparison to Michael’s Bloodcount bandmate Chris Speed, as Peter has chosen to focus on the tenor saxophone and clarinet as Speed does. But what is clear from this recording is that Peter is forging his own path, and is already makng valuable contributions to the substantial output of the modern creative saxophonists that came before him. Without question we will be hearing much more from Michael and Peter Formanek for years to come, both as leaders and collaborators. The hope is that after such an exceptional debut as a duo on Dyads they won’t make us wait too long for a follow-up recording together.

BIOS:

Michael Formanek’s music is always “graceful in its subversions, often even sumptuous,” as The New York Times has aptly noted. Whether it’s for a small band or a large ensemble, the American bassist-composer creates modern jazz that is earthy yet atmospheric, always alive with dark-hued melody and bone-deep rhythms, rich in dynamic possibility and the sound of surprise. Even with decades of experience to his credit – he got his start as a Bay Area teenager playing with the likes of Joe Henderson and Tony Williams – Formanek has made some of his keenest creative leaps in recent years, documented on a sequence of justly lauded recordings. He managed an amazing hat trick with three consecutive ECM albums scoring rare five-star reviews in DownBeat. These included two discs—Small Places (2012) and The Rub and Spare Change—featuring a powerhouse quartet with saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver. The third was a magnificent record–-The Distance (2016)—that showcased his compositions for an all-star big band, playfully dubbed Ensemble Kolossus. Formanek’s first album for the Intakt label—Time Like This (2018)—saw him leading his new Elusion Quartet with saxophonist Tony Malaby, pianist Kris Davis and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith to “soul-stirring” effect, according to All About Jazz. He recorded and released another album on Intakt in October 2019 for his Very Practical Trio entitled Even Better, featuring the altoist Berne and guitar luminary Mary Halvorson. Thumbscrew, a collaborative trio also with Halvorson and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, is one of Michael’s most active projects, having recently released The Anthony Braxton Project in June of 2020, and a new album of their originals, Never Is Enough, is due out in February 2021 on Cuneiform. In August of 2020 he exhumed a phenomenal 2014 live set of his ECM quartet that was released on Out Of Your Head Records’ digital-only Untamed series under the title Pre-Apocalyptic. His newest solo bass recording Imperfect Measures will be released in the April of 2021 on Intakt.

Along with his activities as a leader, Formanek has always been an in-demand collaborator by a wide range of musicians across multiple generations. Born in San Francisco in 1958, Formanek has performed in myriad contexts since he was a precocious member of the Tony Williams Lifetime at just 18 years old. In addition to working early on with such figures as Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson and Dave Liebman, the bassist went on to perform with masters from Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz to Freddie Hubbard and Fred Hersch, his activities only broadening once he moved to New York City in 1978. Among his peers, Formanek has worked with Tim Berne as a kindred spirit over several decades, including making a duo album with the saxophonist—Ornery People—and performing extensively in Berne’s iconic Bloodcount band in the ’90s. The bassist also released a solo LP—Am I Bothering You?-–via Berne’s Screwgun label in 1998. Thumbscrew has released four lauded albums via Cuneiform, including companion discs of originals (Ours) and covers (Theirs), issued in 2018. Formanek’s early albums as a leader included a string of releases for Enja from 1990 to 1996: the quintet LPs Wide Open Spaces and Extended Animation, as well as the septet discs Low Profile and Nature of the Beast. As a sideman, Formanek has recorded with a who’s who in jazz and beyond: Fred Hersch, Uri Caine, Dave Burrell, Jane Ira Bloom, Gary Thomas, Jack Walrath, Joe Maneri, Harold Danko, Lee Konitz, Freddie Redd, Art Pepper, Chet Baker and even Elvis Costello, along with appearing on albums led by such frequent partners as Berne, Marty Ehrlich, Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara, Tony Malaby, trumpeter Dave Ballou, saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, drummer Devin Gray and pianist Angelica Sanchez. michaelformanek.com

Peter Formanek is an improvising multi-woodwind performer, composer, educator, and a lifelong student of music. Hailing from Baltimore, he recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Still, he's been studying music with a Ph.D.-level teacher his whole life: his father, Michael Formanek. His recent senior recital at Kerrytown Concert House drew a wide audience, but also proved he's a "musician's musician" with a number of projects featuring established Detroit area heroes Tim Flood, Andrew Bishop, and Piotr Michalowski, as well as up-and-coming musical collaborators Cory Tripathy, Tristan Cappel, Christopher Tabaczynski, Ben Willis, Jon Taylor, Kenji Lee, and more. Peter’s other projects include Galen Bundy’s Project 206 which released an EP, Volatile, in April 2020.

1. Two, Not One (7:18)

2. Wandering, Searching, Digging, Uncovering (3:44)

3. After You (4:27)

4. The Woods (4:40)

5. Push Comes To Shove (7:32)

6. How Was The Drive? (4:39)

7. There's No There There (4:14)

8. Hoarse Syrinx (4:39)

9. Wavy Lines (5:04)

10. Hurricane (5:16)

11. Ballad of the Weak (6:49)

12. DNA (7:58)

13. That Was Then (5:54)

Composer Credits:

Tracks 1 and 3 - Peter Formanek

Tracks 5, 7, 11 and 13 - Michael Formanek (Formtone Music - BMI)

Tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 - Michael and Peter Formanek

Peter Formanek - tenor saxophone, clarinet

Michael Formanek - double bass

Recorded by David Amlen at Sound on Sound Studio, Montclair NJ on December 30, 2019

Mixed by Nathaniel Morgan at The Forest, Brooklyn NY in May 2020

Mastered by Nick Lloyd at Firehouse 12, New Haven CT in October 2020

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Scott Clark - This Darkness (2021 Out Of Your Head Records)

“A haunting, reverent quality that is most heartfelt. One of the best debuts I’ve heard from a previous unknown band.” –Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery on Bury My Heart

“He has this really interesting way of swinging […] it always feels totally in control; I sense that his ride cymbal will never let you down. It feels personal to him, and I like that.” –NPR’s A Blog Supreme

This Darkness (OOYH 007) is the debut solo drum set recording by Richmond-based musician Scott Clark. To call it a solo drum set album is misleading (though it is a solo drum set album), as it defies preconceived ideas as to what one might expect the format to sound like. That the album opens with 7-minutes of a harmonica drone before you hear a single note of drums is only one such example. This recording will take you out of our world for 45-minutes if you allow it to do so. There is space. There is a sense of calm, and there is incredible patience. It shows Clark to be a musician of emotional integrity, and a creative force in the jazz and improvised music world that will continue to demand attention for many years to come. In group performances (most often heard with his own band the ScottClark4tet) he brings raw energy, and an explosive free-jazz attitude that can light a fire under any ensemble should he choose to explore that path in the moment. He also plays with incredible restraint, and possesses a gravitational pull that brings collaborators into his own world of space and often subdued sonic exploration. This Darkness is more of the latter approach, exploring sound, space, and at times quiet ideas at length, but is a fully realized artistic statement from a musician who continues to develop a singular voice in creative music.

The album is inspired by the poem Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower, written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. A few weeks before recording This Darkness a friend gave Clark a copy of the poem written on a small piece of paper, and he would read it a few times a day leading up to the session. As he set up in the studio in May 2019, he placed the small piece of paper on a music stand and decided in that moment the recording session would begin with the poem in mind. Approaching a poem as a score is something that Clark had explored in the past, but was not necessarily his intention as he planned his first solo recording. On his previous records, Bury My Heart and ToNow (both released on Clean Feed Records), he followed a similar process in that the compositions were written to convey moments in Native history expressed through music. To apply a similar process to this poem, though slightly more abstracted and improvised in nature, feels like a natural progression in his development as a composer. The album as it is presented here was performed in a single take, recorded in the same order heard on This Darkness. After a short break Clark returned to the studio to document some other ideas he had planned for the day-long session, but it was clear to both he and the engineer that the record was already complete. What we hear on This Darkness is indeed a complete album no matter where the inspiration lies, and one that does not feel the need to indulge any preconceived notions as to what a solo drum album should be.

Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower (written by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows).

Quiet friend who has come so far,

feel how your breathing makes more space around you.

Let this darkness be a bell tower

and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.

Move back and forth into the change.

What is it like, such intensity of pain?

If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,

be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,

the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,

say to the silent earth: I flow.

To the rushing water, speak: I am.

Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29

1. Quiet Friend 15:44

2. Who 07:52

3. Has Come So Far 03:06

4. Let This Darkness 04:32

5. Be A Bell Tower 11:17

6. And You The Bell 06:57

Scott Clark - drums, percussion, harmonica

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