As with all my music, titles are a little tricky in that I’m an instrumentalist. Without lyrics, there isn’t a point of reference for a title to come from. And unlike some instrumentalists that I admire, I don’t come up with a title before the composition. Quite the opposite actually. I will start a recording file by giving it a time stamp name (e.g. 240512). On occasion, a piece will lend itself to a name while I’m working on it but, more often, the title will come to me when the piece is near completion. It is almost always informed by an emotion or memory that was prevalent at the time of the piece’s creation.
The pieces that comprise the album “I Wasn’t Ready” were assembled over years. Some were recordings I left undone due to another idea taking precedence or I got stuck.
With all that said, here’s a brief explanation of the titles:
- “I Wasn’t Ready” – This piece, upon completion, reminded me of the memory of both my late father and my late sister, both of whom died within 18 months of each other. While it’s been a few years now since their passing, there is still (and will always be) grief. I shall always miss them, but it dawned on me that I was not prepared for the pain of their absence and that struck me as odd, in a way. The one thing we all have in common is death. We will all die. We will all lose loved ones. And yet we are so woefully prepared.
- “It Ends and Begins” – This is one of those pieces that sat for a while. I started it in 2021, put it down, and didn’t get back to it until 2024. When I did return to it, I felt like a different world. A reminder that things are not static.
- “Melancholic” – This piece came together quickly and was reflective of the melancholic mood I was in at the time.
- “A Budding” – Another piece that sat for a while. I was not in the best of moods when I started it. I was angry, sad, disgusted. But, having put it down for a while and coming back to it with clean ears and emotions, I saw the initial period as being a period of new beginning born out of a very unpleasant moment.
- “Grace Amongst the Haze” – When this piece was done, it conjured up a memory of Northern California and the beauty that came with the summer fog.
- “Where the Waters Meet” – This was inspired by a return trip to my Northern California home region in 2023 and, specifically, Jenner where the Russian River flows into the Pacific Ocean. I was there with my wife, daughters, grandson, and was reminded of the time, in 1988, when I was walking at the same spot with my father.
- “An Ugly Truth Revealed” – This was recorded at the end of 2024 very quickly. I had just come back from overseas and it felt like the country I had hoped we would be was an overly optimistic illusion and some unpleasant truths were confirmed for all to see.
As always, I thank you for your support. Cheers.
