Southern California

Stepping out of the office today at 11:30 for an early lunch I was again reminded of the fundamental underlying paradox that is Southern California. In the shadow of the building the air was cool, almost cold, slightly chilling the skin, yet the sun was piercingly bright, crystalline and pure. (I had already put my sunglasses on in the building in preparation.) Stepping out of the shadow of the building the air was still cool, or at least retain a memory of the cool of the shade and the morning, but the the heat of the sun quickly warmed the skin to almost uncomfortable degree. Over head the sky is a clear blue, not a single cloud, nor even a hint or memory of a cloud. In the distance on the horizon the sky is a light brown, smog or wind bourne sand and dirt. Or a bit of both. And in the air that indescribable smell, a smell I have know my whole life, yet can not describe it. A smell that reminds me of a Southern California that has already passed into history, that always reminds me of the fundamental truth of Southern California, that most of its ten million residences have either forgotten, never knew, or simply do not care; Southern California is a desert.

Ursus Demens

Riding in Cars with McCoy Tyner

Wednesday & Thursday

Well Wednesday turned out to be such a very busy day that I had very little time to do any serious listening, or even semi-listening. I did get to listen to some McCoy Tyner while driving around town running errands for my daughter and my wife. And I did get a little work done on my Morning Prayer piece at about 1:30 in the morning.

Today I have had a little more time to listen to a few things:

• More McCoy Tyner




• Search for Peace


• Song of the New World


• Sama Layuca




• Arvo Part's Berliner Messe


• Michael Franks' Passion Fruit

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Today's listening list (so far):

• John Coltrane's Interstellar Space.


• Don Ellis' Electric Bath.


• Béla Viktor János Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Fritz Reiner, Conductor).


• Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury.

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Work in progress

I have continued with my piece for soprano sax and others. The piece, still called Morning Prayer continues to grow in size with more and more hand percussion being added almost every time I work on it. Currently the piece is in four sections, the first three pretty much sent in their length and origination. Each of these first three sections is about six minutes in length resulting in a total time of over 18 minutes.

The first section is in a slow 7/4 with an unceasing drone in the string bass (arco)and pian, ostinatos in the electric bass and vibraphone, and pointillistic percussion. Above all of this is the soprano sax playing meditative lines that make ample use of quarter tones.

The second section is in a fast 11/8, and is basically a reworking of my piece Wasuremono redone for soprano sax. In this section we have strong beat (pulse) laid down by the bongos and drumset with an ostinato in the electric bass.

The third second is in a slow 13/8 and begins with just a few of the hand percussion laying down an almost hypnotic beat. Once this trance inducing rhythm is established, the string bass returns with another drone, this time a minor sixth lower than the drone of the first section. As this section progresses layers are slowly added to the evolving texture. This is where more and more percussion instruments are added, with the soprano sax and vibraphone soloing above this mix.

The fourth section is just a preliminary sketch in in a fast 9/8 + 7/8 pattern.

I am still working out how many sections I want and how I want the piece to come to a close. I originally considered arranging the piece in an ”arch”, id est repeating each second in an A B C B A arrangement or even an A B C D C B A arrangement of the various sections. At this point I have rejected this arrangement with the decision to not repeat/return to the second and third sections. Although I have not completely ruled about a return to the first section. What I am struggling with is how many sections I want to use. Each section will be approximately six minutes in length. I considered having four sections each at six minutes in length for a total time of 24 minutes, one minute for each hour of the day, with each section having a sub-title of Morning, Day, Evening, and Night. But that was simply one organizational idea. Other Ideas have included as many as 12 sections for a length of 72 minutes, about the maximum you can get on a single CD.



In the mean time I whipped out a quick arrangement for a small jazz combo: A jazz arrangement of Chopin's Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No 4. I have taken liberties with the arrangement that will most likely outrage the purists in the world.


Today's Listening list: Mostly just all of my own compositions today. Fugue in E minor, Forlorn Hope, Kiyone's Mood, Nibbles, Ultra Dry, What Ever, Summer Sax, et cetera.



Ursus Demens

Today's listening list:

So far today I have listen to “Shorty Roger's and his Giants”, the sound tracks to “Mononoke Hime” and “Escaflowne”, and “Tales From Topographic Ocean” by Yes.


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What are you listening to?

Well as for me today I have been listening to John Coltrane's “A Love Supreme”, Ravi Shankar's “A Morning Raga/An Evening Raga” and Pharoah Sanders' “The Creator Has a Master Plan” [Along with “Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt”, “Astral Traveling” and “Spiritual Blessing”.] Yesterday was some Anton Bruckner.

So, what are you listening to?

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N.J.S.G.

Well I finaly sat down and finished the program notes for N.J.S.G. and it is now available on line at:

http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=100596

From the program notes:

N.J.S.G. is a based on my tune N.J.G. Redone for a High School level group with limited number of horns. It features five horns plus rhythm section. In the score the horn parts are simply listed as 1 through 5 and are shown at concert pitch. The director is free to mix and match the parts he needs for his particular group. You will have a full sound as long as each of the five horn parts are covered. I have provided multiple parts for each “part”. Id est for Horn 1 there is a Bb Tumpet part, an Eb Alto Sax 1 part and (at 8 va) a Flute 1 part. In fact there are separate alto sax parts for horns 1 through 4. The Bass Trombone/Tuba part listed as VI is the V part an octave lower. Simply use the ones you need. There are two piano parts, one is what is in the score, with just has chords symbols and the bass ques, the other labeled Piano PB, has a complete “comping” written out for a less experienced player. Simply print those parts that you need for your particular combination of instruments.

N.J.S.G is a simple Model Jazz tune in 5/4 time, with swung eight notes.


Ursus Demens