Naked Wonder - Jazz Harp CD 

The creation of this Debut CD is a work of sweat, heart, synergy and energy.  Each musician, brought such inspiration, thought and joy to this work. Each labor, listened and participated together.  Engaging in a conversation of equals.   A sound has emerged from this trio that is a pleasure to hear as a casual listener and as a musician.  A true wonder.

Notes on the pieces; by Motoshi -

1- Naked Wonder -

As perhaps the lightest sounding piece in the  album, this piece is by far the trickiest.  As it has the most complicated rhythmic structure.  I wanted to write something that was no easy to play, yet at the same time sounded as if it was easy to play, much like the compositions by Pat Methany.  To make the improvisational part more interesting I avoided dominant motions for modulations and inserted one bar of 8/10 in the end of the 6/8 improvisational section.  Later I added the bridge in 5/4.  As I intended, this piece is the hardest to play.

2- Income of Pain

I intended to write a slow jazz ballad in a minor key with some interesting modulation which allow us to use an introspective approach to the piece. 

3- Waltz for Terra

Inspired by the waltz for Debbie by Bill Evans, I wrote this waltz for my wife Terra.  It is a straight ahead jazz waltz with typical harmony changes.  (I discovered typical jazz harmonic changes are not easy to improvise with the harp)

 4- Barking at the Moon

In this piece, bassist Bill Douglass plays the Chinese bamboo flute as a featured solo instrument.  I was looking to create an oriental mood by using the bamboo flute and the Japanese pentatonic mode.  Flute solo happens on one mode and moves into the harp improvisation and modal harmonic changes.

5-    Stuck in a Nowhere Town -

This is a straight ahead jazz blues with a strong 4/4 swing feel.  Improvised as bluesy as possible;  You can say, "This is a really 'Blues Harp!" At the same time i took a chance to use some scales sounding a little 'off' since 7th chords are tempting for so many different harmonic and melodic possibilities.

6-    Night Follows the Day

I intended to write a Bossa Nova although it doesn't have a strong Bossa Nova rhythm.  It is a fun piece to improvise. 

7- Voyage Without End

Trying a modal approach in improvisation, I borrowed the harmonic change from Miles Davis's "Milestones".  The theme is on a pentatonic scale and quartile melodic structure.  Improvisation became really free and open since the same mode (same pedal position) can be used 4-8 bars at a time.

 8- Petals Will Fall

I got the inspiration from Elgar's "Serenade for Strings" which I heard as I sat back stage during one of my symphony concerts ( I was back stage as there is no harp part in that piece).  I wrote polyphonic harp for the theme.  Improvisation section has a strong rhythm, similar to a slow rock ballad.

9- Babbling of the Drunkard

Thisis the funkiest tune with a B Flat 7th chord.  I wrote this for experimenting with pedal glissando (glissando is when the harpist runs the fingered over the strings) for playing funky and bluesy melodies.  The inspiration for this one came from Miles's "Freed Jazz Dance".  Again with the 7th chord, I used 'off sounding' scales and cords to make my solo sound a little bit like Herbie Hancock.  It was easy to write this tune with just one chord, but difficult to play.

10 - Inner Nature

Being inspired by Keith Jarret's European Quartet, I wanted to write a very introspective suite as the last piece of this album.  This piece is in three sections:  First part features Bill Douglas on the Chinese Flute with a strong oriental mood.  The second section is a rhythmic improvisation featuring the flute, while the third section is a slow jazz ballade featuring the harp.  This is my favorite composition.

Motoshi Kosako