THE MORNING PRAYERS     1:43

Sunday morning in Arba Minch in the south of Ethiopia, Monks are chanting and praying up the hill at their church. It's 5:30 AM.

This is my morning prayer. The banjo part was recorded direct into the recorder out in the hotel garden. I then went inside to over dub the flute part.

The chanting of the  monks came through my open window and was recorded along with the flute. The flute was given to me by my old friend, Rene Berblinger, when I was in Portland, Oregon in October 2008 two months before Ethiopia.

It is a two foot long bamboo.

MY BODY IS MY BODY     1:40

From "Woo-men - A work by Marlies Yearby

This is a vocal collage from recordings of women of all ages, from 16-95 years old. The language was extracted, edited and proccessed to create what should feel like music.

It was an honor for me to have been allowed to work on the project. There was only one other male, dramaturg, Talvin Wilks.

Doing the work changed my life in how I thought of women.

WARRIOR WOMAN      :50

From "Feathers at the Flame"  words by Laurie Carlos - directed and choreographed by Marlies Yearby.

This song was written for a female character in the play. 

It was performed at The Kitchen in NYC and at The Guthrie Lab in Minneapolis.

THE DEATH QUEEN       4:41

Words by Brian Wesley Smith

Brian wrote these while serving a 20 year sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Ft Leavenwoth, Kansas.

On his release, he and I collaborated on "A Mindset," which was performed at Jerome Cooper's gallery on East Ninth Street, NYC and 

at the Dance Theater Workshop. DTW is located on West 19th Street in Manhattan. 

The E. 9th Street performance featured Nefretete Rashied, vocals; Michael Wimberly, vocals and percussion; and Cooper-Moore, vocals and precussion.

The DTW performed added Alexander on electric guitar.

The recording consist of M1 synth, drum kit and voice - Cooper-Moore.

ANYBODY SEEN MARIE LAVEAU #3, #2, #1     #3 -  2:53,   #2 – 1:23,  #1 – 2:15 

Aisha Rahman - libretto

The next three selections were written as an audition for an opera about Marie Laveau, a woman practitioner of Voudou in New Orleans during the nineteenth century.

Daniel Jones, with whom I worked in Movin Spirits Dance Theater, put me in touch with his former writing professor at Brown University. Aisha Rahman was looking for someone to set her opera. She sent along the libretto and asked that I set three scenes. 

A New Orleans woman goes to a Voudou priestess to get some magic and instruction on how to regain her lost lover. 

The songs are in reverse order from how they appeared in the script. I didn't get the commission but the music is happening. 

Eventully Akua Dixon did the collaboration. I worked with Akua in Joseph Jarman's band. She was a wonderful player and person.

The music constructions were all done pre-digital on 4-track cassette tape bounced to two track cassette tape.

Sounds are all sample sounds except of the voice.

BALLAD FOR PIANO      1:35 

"Ballad for Piano" is one of 15 little pieces that came to me during the Summer of 2004.

It was a time when my piano chops were up and I was comfortable thinking piano in any way that I wanted.

NY PIANO     2:10

From 2002 - This is representative of my piano thinking from that time. One can hear some of the same licks from anything recorded around then.

I don't know where it was recorded. It seems to be a fragment of something. Nice piano.

CANON FOR WP      2:02

William Parker has often spoken about putting together an organ band. 

This was in my thinking when I constructed it. It's all MIDI and not meant for any

purpose other than my own enjoyment.