Nearly two years have passed since we last recorded in June of 2001. As musicians, we’re always conscious of time. Its all about the time, the distance between beats. Our collective sense of time holds the music together. It’s the heartbeat of the music. We love to push, pull and play with the time, to play songs in irregular time signatures.
A favorite pastime of jazz musicians is to alternately obscure the time, then clearly articulate it. It’s elastic. Sometimes it’s objective, other times extremely subjective. It’s the canvas atop which we place our notes and songs. It is the backdrop to all we do. It’s the moment in which something takes place. It’s the past, present, and future.
Now, imagine time times itself! Or maybe it’s really time interpreted by four equal individuals and all that has taken place in our lives between the notes we play together. Or it may be the intersection of our aesthetic senses, our communal square.
“Go Go”: Bob’s homage to that infectious DC groove captures the pulse of the city’s youth. When Marcus broke in to a Go Go grove at a recent YJ workshop at a DC area high school, the auditorium erupted!
“Monk’s Habit”: Thelonious Monk had a singularly eccentric and robust melodic and rhythmic piano style. It sometimes sounded like the piano notes he depressed were glued to their neighboring keys…or maybe his fingers were just really thick.
“Smithtown”: Last year Jimmy found time to reflect on his youth and share his daydream about playing gigs in every little township within a days drove of Huntington, Long Island.
“Healing Waters”: Written at a time of prayer, its soothing, peaceful nature conveys the timeless need for true healing. Marcus’ expressive debut composition features a buoyant vocal by his wife, Jean and demonstrates that time is indeed relative, multifaceted, and quite fluid.
“Time Squared”: Did we travel back to 1973?
“Gabriela Rose”: A soft light illuminates Jimmy’s hauntingly beautiful dedication to his daughter, full of love and hope.
“Sea Folk”: Remember the whistling sailor in the Old Space commercial? We love to play in 6/8 or is it 5/8???
“V”: Did Coltrane ever play in 5/4? Maybe now you know why.
“Claire @ 18”: It’s effortless to love and be completely smitten by your child but how does one feel when they begin to break away. It’s beautiful, it’s inevitable, and its sometimes painful.
“The Village Gait”: Who doesn’t remember the exact moment time was stretched almost beyond our comprehension in NYC. You’ve been on our minds and in our prayers.
“My First Best Friend”: A dedication to a childhood friend who left us far too soon.
Altered State is available on CD and SACD.