New original composition: "Integral House Stimulus Package" (KP2-04)

This original composition by Kevan Paul was completed on the same day that the Wall Street Journal featured an article about a 21st Century architectural wonder nick-named "The Integral House", because the owner is a mathematics professor and author of many college text-books for calculus. He is also a violinist, so this piece fits perfectly with the theme. The result is a musical tribute to the "Integral House" with the word Integral added to the original title. Thanks to Shannon Kyles for generously allowing me to use her photographs. The violinist in the pictures is the owner of the home-concert-hall.

This new composition has many elements that are new to my recording efforts, but not all of the original ideas ended up in the final mix - some of these will be in the next composition. The title of the piece is a phrase that keeps appearing in the economic news, and is somewhat to the point of my wanting to create a stimulus package to help make creative things happen around me. More to the irony of the current situation is that everyone I know needs an economic stimulus package - so let's give one so that we may get one. The piece includes six different sections, which are repeated in various form with a chord pattern that starts with Gm7-F#m-Gma7-Dm-Dm-Em, etc. This is in a jazz-fusion modal form, which defies resolving to maintain the tension. The piano gives the underlying repetition in section 2,4,6, while the violin gives a soulful introduction in section 1. The "electric-guitar" gives us taunting questions throughout the piece, with no definite resolution to these musical statements. The repetitions pattern with the first quarter note rest followed by three quarter notes with varying levels of syncopation, is a deliberate statement of ambiguous rhythmic melody to further confuse and entertain. The statement of unison in the last section resigns itself to the current situation. These are the metaphorical undercurrents of the piece. I wanted to create something that sounded like some of the jazz-rock fusion pieces of the 70's and 80's that I love to listen to, while adding additional soundscapes such as the synthesizer rhythms and the "storm" during the second section. I hope the sun finally comes out - as metaphorically I've been waiting intensely for the spring storms to end and the real warmth to arrive so that I enjoy some outdoor activities in the sun. I happy with this piece because it includes my favorite jazz-rock fusion elements with violin.

New Re-Mix of Michael Hedges "Baal T'Shuva"

Since this song has received comments on the blog, I've re-mixed again to sound better. Thanks for input from JS54inMO; I agree with your observations. I re-mixed the recording with less volume on the shaker, fixed some note discrepancies on the violin and balanced the violin with the guitar better. Hope you like the new rendition better. - Kevan