The collection of tunes in this CD is very unique. Steve and Ed combined their unique and distinct ways of composing and arranging with input from all participants during the recording. The result is an unprecedented, half acoustic and half electronic, un-classifiable musical genre. Russ Henry and Chester Thompson augment the harmonies and melodies with a polyrhythmic dimension often combining Jazz, and hip hop with world beats.

“Many of my tunes were inspired in the dessert.” Says Ed. “The idea for Yak cartilage the first tune on the record came to me while I was in the Montezuma mountain range. It kind of has a very lyrical feel that was perfect for Mike to play a strong solo.” Ed’s passion for paleontology drives him to spend a great deal of time collecting samples in the surrounding desserts. Often his compositions have themes that are very related with pre-historic concepts. “ I wrote no hyenas in one or two days only. It came about the idea of early humans building a fire to keep the hyenas away. I worked a lot with world music sounds and rhythms.”  Steve’s compositions have different sources of inspiration.

Take for example The boy who sang with one shoe. It is a beautiful composition that has incredible counterpoint melodies among the wind instruments with a very strong rhythm section. “A very strange event inspired me to compose this tune.” says Steve. “I was quite moved by a story and a picture that appeared in the LA Times after the massacre at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. A twelve-year-old boy had been shot as he approached the restaurant and had fallen into some shrubbery while losing one of his shoes. He was not killed but chose to play dead for three hours while singing softly to himself in order to maintain his courage. I thought this incident was testimony to the power of music.”

The record starts off very strong with Yak cartilage. This tune has sections that were inspired in the dessert.  “The idea for the middle section of yak came while I was in the Monctezuma mountain range. It kind of has a very lyrical feel that was perfect for Mike to play a strong solo,” says Ed.

The second tune of the record is one of Steve’s finest compositions. The beautiful counterpoint melodies of the flute, trombone and Flugel horn are supported by a very strong rhythm section with Chester Thompson on drums and Ed on electric bass. “A very strange event inspired me to compose this tune,” says Steve. “I was quite moved by a story and a picture that appeared in the LA Times after the massacre at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California. A twelve-year-old boy had been shot as he approached the restaurant and had fallen into some shrubbery while losing one of his shoes. He was not killed but chose to play dead for three hours while singing softly to himself in order to maintain his courage. I thought this incident was testimony to the power of music.”

Next on the CD is no hyenas. It is a tune that Ed wrote in one or two days. “This composition came about the idea of early humans building a fire to keep the hyenas away.” It presents feelings of fear and happiness in its melodies and harmonies. There was a great deal of experimentation with world music sounds and rhythms.

Denver, the fourth tune on the CD, is made of two distinct sections. There are feel and mood changes that add more excitement to the composition. Like in a classical piece. “This tune has that title because it reminds me of when my mom was ill. She lived in Denver where I used to go visit her. It brings me back to that particular place and time.”

The fifth composition of the album, Mr. Glum meets Mr. Glib, also has two distinct sections and styles. The opening definitely captures your attention. Steve composed this piece while thinking of himself. “I had entertained the idea, during a light-hearted moment, of naming every tune on a CD after myself and this was one of my titles. I am, of course, both Mr. Glum and Mr. Glib.”

Following Mr. Glum and Mr. Glib is my neighbors, another Steve Fowler composition. “I had a landlord in Los Angeles who celebrated every Sunday by playing cumbias while she prepared food in the landing that separated my house from hers. This tune reminded me of those days.” My neighbors combines different elements of jazz and Latin music.

The seventh composition in the CD has the name of a dessert town where Ed gathers data for his paleonthological studies. Tecopa 3 is part of a collection of tunes that were inspired in that same location. “This tune has a certain dessert feel. Tecopa is a place where lots of ideas have come to mind. I some times write them down there and then or I wait and start up a sequence when I get back to L.A.” Walter Fowler plays very soulful melodies on his Flugel Horn that alternate acoustic guitars played by both Mike and Ed.

Conch is a very intriguing composition. “Conch was inspired by a synthesizer sound. As I played around with this particular patch on the synth I began to get a lot of ideas at once in my head. I quickly set up my sequencer and began to work on 4 or 5 different parts.” This particular tune has very nice melodies that are in counterpoint with each other. There is an acoustic piano that is reminiscent of Keith Jarret.

There is a panda in my room is a very sweet composition by Steve Fowler. “This tune reminds me of a children’s song and also had a role in certain thoughts that I had while looking at a panda doll on the night I was diagnosed with ALS.” This tune blends Latin elements in its rhythm section. The harmonies and counterpoint melodies among all of the wind instruments are very beautiful. It also features an awesome flute solo by Steve.

In Devonian fish horizon, Chester Thompson once again funks it up in the rhythm section. This tune has some incredible horn arrangements. It features alternating solos by Bruce on the Trombone and Walter on the Flugel horn. It explores the blend of Jazz and Hip Hop musical elements.

Dairy hour has a Middle Eastern feel. It has a very rich percussion track with some very interesting polyrhythms against Russ Henry’s traps. Mike Miller plays both an electric sitar and a very soulful electric guitar solo. Steve wrote Dairy Hour on the same day he wrote a poem with the same name. “The relationship between them is very abstract,” says Steve. You can read his poem below and judge for yourself.

The last tune on the record is Tecopa 2. “This particular part on the Tecopa series has a great amount of improvisation. It wasn’t all written out. A lot was left up to the players that were only provided with a very rough sketch of the tune. I feel that this is only one particular version in millions of possibilities.” There are really good improvisations on Flute, Flugel Horn and Trombone on this tune.

Purchase