There is something intimate about the forest. This is where Sounding Out started out. And in the current situation, accessing churches or any type of public architecture is difficult. Playing outdoors has an immediate quality. The sound of the saxophone is pure. Just dry, dead pan, as it is, no embelishment, no phase tweaking and bounce reflections. In the cool air, it is also slightly raw. Raunchy is the mood.
I’ve just had a series of powerful meditations lately, and i’ve been reflecting on a phenomena with light hitting a waterfall (see my video on reflections on a weir called moving lines). Such reflections took me back to symmetrical figures and the fractal approach to music i have been developing. After meditation, i walked out into the forest with my saxophone and continued my reflections, this time it is the instrument that leads me into similar figures i had seen. Inspired by this experience, i later returned to the same spot and recorded some improvisations.
From the open space immediate sound, i gradually step deeper into the trees and the sounds change. It comes as no surprise our ancestors believed that trees had spirits. As i play in the midst of this thick woods, the trees come alive and respond to the saxophone sounds. There’s calls in the night, shrieks and hullulations, and there’s some jazz licks too, abstract and angular, that all come out into the deep, the dark, impenetrable lush texture of trees.
On the return journey, after walking in Northumberland through splendid scenery and lush forests, i stopped in the well known church in Newby. This place never disappoints. The doors are always open, and the acoustics always gives. I have spent much time here, and always had such inspiration in this very quiet space.
Here again, carried by the flow, i play uninterrrupted for 45 minutes.
vajra light
alto saxophone, 24 july 2020
holystone forest
conseil des sages
alto saxophone, 26 july 2020
newby church
un sage conseil
alto saxophone, 26 july 2020
newby church
nexttime studio 