I’m most of the way through writing that piano trio piece I was telling you about, remember, the one with “NO RHYTHM SECTION”?

However…..since I do like to experiment with special techniques (judiciously, of course), I decided to consult with the violinist, Manuela Kaymakanova. It turned out that I had written a few errant double stops that needed to be reined in a bit and a “saltando” that was getting way out of hand.  Also, she gave me advanced warning that most string players don’t like to play “col ‘legno”(tapping the strings with the wood of the bow), and if they see that effect written too frequently, they will flip the bow back over when the composer’s not looking.

As you have been tuning in to my MP3 Jukebox, you may have run across a few sample pieces which I recorded with St. Louis poet, Michael Castro. Well, Michael has recently had two of his own CDs released on the Freedonia Music label, collaborating with two marvelous multi-instrumentalists, J.D. Parran (“Kokopilau”) and the late Joe Catalano (“Endless Root”). Both are really fine albums, and I especially enjoyed comparing Catalano’s interpretations of Michael’s poems to my own – completely different settings, but many interpretive similarities. So enjoy!……and go straight to the Freedonia site, ASAP – http://www.freedoniamusic.org

As promised, here is my latest piece, “Textures”, which you can listen to right now by clicking on the MP3 Player under “Blogroll” in the menu on the right, or just use this link, http://www.tompkinsjazz.com/jukebox, to get you straight to the MP3 Player page. I have also uploaded a relatively new piece, “Voices” and inserted an older work, “Open Green” in between, just for variety. [Actually, the real professionals at Pixel IQ (http://www.pixeliq.com) did the uploads for me, and Charlie Dent mastered “Textures” & “Voices”]

With “Textures”, I have been trying to expand my range of synthesizer sounds, even to the point of employing sampled percussion instruments to create a drum sound. In the process, I hope I was able to mold the effects into a concise and meaningful work. Let me know.

“Open Green” is a short vocal work that we performed frequently in my
group, The Fred Tompkins Poetry & Music Ensemble. I haven’t tried to display the words to any of my vocal pieces here online, but I hope you can understand them ok.

The two halves of “Voices” are almost like two short, separate works, but I tend to hear the 2nd half as a kind of resolution of the 1st. In the first half, I combine the sound of flute multiphonics (producing several notes simultaneously) and sing/play double stops with various synthesizer sounds, sometimes in dialog and sometimes as a chord. With all of this experimentation, I still try to maintain a sense of continuity, so let me know if you think I’m successful. I can always use that imput for my next endeavor.
The 2nd half of this piece holds a special meaning for me. It was written around the time, recently, when we lost several friends who were close to the St. Louis community, and I kept thinking of them as I was playing it.
This movement also makes me think of the real courage it takes to go on in life while battling a serious illness or personal loss.

If you are familiar with my approach to making music (if not, just click on the MP3 Player in the right hand menu under “Blogroll” and have a listen), you probably realize that I tend to focus my efforts on establishing a rhythmic dialog between my notated or composed parts and an improvised drum part.

Well, my latest two projects will venture into somewhat unfamiliar territory: On a synthesizer piece, called “Textures”, I am playing all the drum parts myself with sampled instruments (not that I could ever duplicate the beautiful flow of a Gary Sykes, Charlie Dent or Elvin Jones, but my “Soundfonts” do provide some very natural percussion sounds, and my own artistic goals for a synthesized drum part are somewhat different anyway). I’ll post the piece on my MP3 Player page when it’s done, and you can let me know what you think.

For another project, I’ve been asked to write a work for the Trinity Trio here in St. Louis. It’s a marvelous classical piano trio (piano, violin and cello) w/ NO RHYTHM SECTION. That’s fine with me, because I welcome the challenge of creating ideas conceived within my own rhythmic style but expanded to enjoy all the idiomatically expressive qualities of this new ensemble.

So wish me luck, or at least get back to me with advise for the present and/or possible ways to stay out of trouble in the future.

I’ve just finished recording my piece, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (music set to poetry by John Keats), and it has been a wonderful experience working with these four players – left to right: Dave Black, Gary Sykes, Paul DeMarinis and Debby Lennon. If you’d like, you can listen to it by clicking on the MP3 Player in the right hand menu, under Blogroll (If you don’t see the menu at first, click on the “blog” link at top of this page, or scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see it.); then just click on “Ode….” on the MP3 Player and let me know what you think.

With classic Paul Horn/Lalo Schifrin and Dizzy Gillespie/Lalo Schifrin collaborations, I’ve added two more great examples of Third Stream Music recordings to our list, under “Pages”/ “Other Artists Whom I Admire”. (If you don’t see a menu to the right, click on the “blog “ link above the banner.)
And…… you don’t have to be a St. Louisan to enjoy the two latest additions to my Blogroll:
St. Louis Jazz Notes is a site filled with interesting articles about musicians, photos, links to recordings/sites and exciting new music videos.
And…….New Music Circle (for which I serve as a board member) is a St. Louis organization which sponsors many local events and brings in Avant-Garde touring groups from around the world. Our newly renovated site will tell you about its history and mission. You can read thought provoking articles, look at our calendar of up-coming events and purchase “new music” CDs and other material (presents?) in the NMC Shop.
You’ve got lots of clicking to do, so get to work (It’s really more like play), and I’ll see you next time.

Third Stream compositions on blog feature Elvin Jones, David Liebman and many great players with links to Gunther Schuller, Eric Dolphy & more:

Based upon my mission statement and the musical examples on my MP3 Player (If you don’t see a menu to the right, just click on the “blog” link at the top of the page.), I would love to know what you think of my music and how it relates to your own approach to playing, composing or just attentive listening. If you prefer to keep your comments private, be sure to indicate that in your message, and we can converse solely by e-mail.

Today, I found a beautifully written article by Gunther Schuller, giving a broad, historical perspective on the significance of Third Stream Music. I hope you’ll enjoy it. – Mirage: Avant-Garde and Third Stream Jazz

Also, I have updated my Blogroll with new links to artists and relevant recordings.