Twigs ~
Today, like every other day,
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
Posted in Notes on gigs and recordings, Random poetic nonsense, Uncategorized | Tagged Twig | Leave a Comment »
Sit ~
Meditate ~
Play that horn ~
All night ~
Breathe ~
Deeply ~
Breathe ~
Breathe ~
Exhale ~
Sometimes it is the breath that is all there is……….so Exhale
G. Stevens
All I Was Doing Was Breathing
By Mirabai (translated by Robert Bly)
Something has reached out and taken in the beams of my eyes.
There is a longing, it is for his body, for every hair of that dark body.
All I was doing was being, and the Dancing Energy came by my house.
His face looks curiously like the moon, I saw it from the side, smiling.
My family says: “Don’t ever see him again!” And they imply things in a low voice.
But my eyes have their own life; they laugh at rules, and know whose they are.
I believe I can bear on my shoulders whatever you want to say of me.
Mira says: Without the energy that lifts mountains, how am I to live?
Posted in Notes on gigs and recordings, Random poetic nonsense | 1 Comment »
Something new? Here is some new material:
Holy Crap! It has been a long time since I visited let alone wrote something for this site. So in lieu of a thoughtful insightful post here are a couple of new songs that I have been working on. Enjoy!
Glenn
“Reflections” is an instrumental piece I wrote anticipating my next vespers service in March of 2012.
I have been doing some songwriting lately for a side project called the “Lucky Dogs” here is a “Lucky Dogs” recording of one of my songs: “Leaves Of The Trees”
Have a great New Year.
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“The Heart At Peace”
A multi media event celebrating the mystic poets with music by Glenn Stevens.
Don’t forget the free musical service with Glenn Stevens, Christopher Reba, Sarah Heath, and Lydia Smith on March 18th at the Unitarian Society of New Haven.
This is a Friday night vespers service, part of the Unitarian Society’s once a month vespers program.
Hope you can join us.
March 18th at 7:00 PM
700 Hartford Turnpike,
Hamden, CT
(203) 288-1807
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Yes I have finally dug out from the mountain of snow and I’m back stirring the musical pot. We had a great time on Valerie’s radio show on WPKN on Tuesday February 15. The “Lucky Dogs” played a few tunes and chatted for about an hour. Thanks to Valerie for having us. Thanks to Jim Baldoni for playing bass and Frank Panzarella on guitar and the lovely Lizzy singing. I played mandolin and sang a little. We did one of my tunes called “Invisible.” If you would like to hear the show, here is a link to listen: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/listen/16592
You can link to the rest of the radio station through WPKN.org. Send them a couple of bucks, they are a great organization that plays a ton of all kinds of independent music.
Image via Wikipedia
Next up I will be playing a free concert/service with Christopher Reba, Sarah Heath, Lydia Smith and Matt Torcillini on March 18th at the Unitarian Society of New Haven. This is a Friday night vespers service, part of their once a month vespers program. The music is all original music that I wrote over the last year or so. It will be very meditative and calm with poetry by Rumi, Li Po, Yeats, Lao-Tzu, Hildegard of Bingen…..(well you get the picture… the mystics) a nice way to end the week. I have also arranged for some visual images to coincide with the music and poetry. It should be a hip happening happening.
Hope you can join us.
March 18th at 7:00 PM
700 Hartford Turnpike,
Hamden, CT
(203) 288-1807
Hopefully a few more surprises in the next month or two.
Take care
Glenn
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Dave Mix and Glenn tearing it up in Branford, CT.
We have been out of the picture lately, resting and digging out from the snow. Hope you all are well. I wanted to let you know of some music coming up in the next month or two.
On Tuesday, February 15 around 5 PM, a few of the Jazz Folks crowd will be playing some music on Valerie Richardson’s WPKN radio show. Frank Panzarella and I will be joined by Lizzy Hess and Jim Baldoni in a band called “The Lucky Dogs,” doing some folk-like covers and an original song or two. Find WPKN at 89.5 on the FM dial, or listen on line through the inter tube webby thing at wpkn.org.
On Friday, March 18 at 7 PM, I will be playing with an excellent group of musicians for a Vespers service at the Unitarian Society of New Haven. This should be a wonderful, meditative evening of music and poetry, and will include several musicians who have sat in with Jazz Folks. The music will be informed by sounds and images of nature, using structured improvisations that let the musicians interact freely with each other. Instruments will include mandolin, bass, xylophone, percussion, piano and voice.
Image via Wikipedia
A Friday night vespers service at the Unitarian Society of New Haven.
Free and open to all.
March 18th at 7:00 PM
700 Hartford Turnpike,
Hamden, CT
(203) 288-1807
“Empty your mind of all thoughts, Let your heart be at peace.” Lao-Tzu
Readings from the mystic poets throughout the ages. Meditative original music by Glenn Stevens with Sarah Heath, Chris Reba, Lydia Smith, and Matt Torcellini. A multi-media vespers service with music, poetry and visuals.
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Party Mandolin
I haven’t posted for a while now and I thought I should weigh in with a word or two. I have been working hard at some new tunes. I’m still enamored with delays and some sound warping effects with my mandolin. As a result the new tunes are a little outside of the box I have been playing in the last few years. What I have posted here are some sketches. I plan on fleshing them out with a wider variety of musicians and a grand debut in February.
Letting Go: This is a little tune in a fast 7/8. Thanks to Corey Stevens for playing the bass. I wrote this song as my mother-in-law was passing away.
Sun In the Night: layers on layers in patterns layered on to the layered patterns all spinning around and grinding to a ……..
- Mandolin in shadow
Cool Morning Early has a really nice ambient introduction worked out that gives the sense of the early morning waking up. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear on this recording. You’ll have to come to the premiere in February for the full effect.
I’ve got a bunch of other tunes along these lines that I am anxious to share with people in the next few months.
Stay tuned. Thanks,
Glenn
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I am fortunate that my church has an adventurous music director. We have heard everything from Bach to Miles Davis to Steve Reich as part or our Sunday service. I recently read an article about how much church choirs are a part of the ministry. I am happy that our music director is adventurous enough to include me as a participant in creating this place of worship.
I recently played for the Sunday services. We played three of my original tunes: “Praise”, “You and Me”, and “Cool Morning, Early.” Thanks to Mark Zarrillo for playing percussion and Christopher Reba for playing bass. I played mandolin with some electronic delays.
Cool Morning, Early was a new piece. I am trying to get a more integrated improvisational thing 
going. This piece works well on this level. It featured Chris playing some very nice melodic acoustic bass and Mark holding it all together with his mysterious pile of percussion. We got lots of requests for recordings and that is something that is in the works, for now we have two traditional jazz and swing recordings available on the “What We Do and What We Have Done” page. The “Works In Progress” page has some examples of this recent musical train of thought. Thanks for all the great comments and feedback for our worship contributions.
Glenn
Posted in Notes on gigs and recordings | Tagged church music, double bass, mandolin, Miles Davis, Music, percussion, Steve Reich, unitarian | Leave a Comment »
September 18 Dancing in Pink!
I saw the “Dancing in Pink” benefit dance concert in Torrington last week.The performance was at the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre. I live in Connecticut and this theatre complex was a real find. It seems to be a vibrant little complex with a lot going on.
I haven’t seen much dance lately so this was a real treat. I love the combination of thoughtfully chosen music and visually interesting movement. Hmmm is that what dance is? I like pieces that are organized like a good piece of music: there are places where the ensemble works together as a unit and places where an individual or individuals move to the attentive forefront and the rest of the ensemble is active but in the background. I like modern jazz that works this way as well. Not so much, play the head-solo-solo-solo-play the head, but a more interactive ensemble that solo together and alone building and coming together and breaking apart and coming together.
There were a couple of pieces that stood out to me:
In Particular “Wings of the Sparrow” Choreographed by Anthony Manuel and danced by Anthony Manuel and Emily Wiadro. This was a lovely duet with music by Angleique Kidjo. The dancers were focused and fluid with a seemingly effortless grace. I guess I need to tap into the modern dance scene a bit more because I would like to see more of Anthony’s work.
Also: “Preserve Me” choreographed and danced by Lacey Byrne and Valerie Rodgers was a moving and visually interesting piece. “Healing Dance” Choreographed by June Can of Clarke Dance Theatre was also a cool piece. This piece had a nice mix of group and solo or small group movement. The dance was contemplative with a strong grounded presence.
OK good good good good stuff but, where is the live music? Come on people there are enough talented musicians around willing to lend their vision to the mix. Get some live music!
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Image via Wikipedia
Not for money! That is for sure. What is it about the creative process that drives us? I know enough musicians that spend countless hours practicing alone and with bands and they earn little money. They have day jobs and squeeze their “art” in as best they can. In fact the best guitar player I have ever heard bar none was playing in New York City for tips in a coffee shop the size of my small living room. I see this drive to create in dancers, visual artists, poets, cabinet makers, teachers and countless other of creative people as well.
I know for me I can only watch so many episodes of the Partridge Family marathon before I find myself out in the yard welding hunks of metal together or plugged into my recording equipment working on a new piece. Art or great art isn’t really part of the equation. I just end up trying to create something.
There is an interesting interview with Daniel Pink and Clay Shirky at Wired.com about this topic. They talk about how much free time we have and how (for a brief time, in my opinion) people used to fill up their free time watching TV and now they use their free time creating content on the net. I like the idea of Cognitive Surplus, great title. I think about pre-electricity days when most people lived on an agricultural calendar. There must have been vast amounts of free time in the winter. This is when people quilted or played music or hand crafted furniture, or maybe just drank the winter away.
Another interesting bit is this video or animated lecture by Daniel Pink about why people are not motivated primarily by profit. Shocking thought hmmm?
I guess I’m not the only one that wonders this: Same question with some inane comments, a blog discussion about the animated lecture by Daniel Pink.
Posted in Phil's osophy | Tagged Arts, Clay Shirky, Creativity, Musician, New York, New York City, Partridge Family, Visual arts | Leave a Comment »
