Romance by Dave Palmer

it was named in just such a manner from

it's inception as i felt it embodied my sentimental impressions of

those rainy parisian days and also because i instinctively felt there

would be more compositions to follow in the footsteps of this piece.

flash forward to summer 2005. i had been harboring an idea for a

piano recording project for several months. i had what i felt were a

nice handful of compositions that embodied a particular esthetic which

i wanted to pour into a collective work. i was unsure of how to bring

it all to fruition or even if my ideas would be cogent once put

together in reality. luckily for me i ran into ethan johns at just the

right time.

my friend and wonderful singer/songwriter juliana raye had been

affiliated with ethan for quite sometime. after i had bumped into her

at a show in hollywood she asked if i would come to ethan's studio and

play on some of her new songs, an offer to which i readily agreed. it

was during this session that i initiated a creative relationship with

ethan and fell in love with his piano.

the instrument was a bluthner grand from the early 1900's. as soon as

i played it i knew i had to record some of my own music using it as a

medium. i approached ethan with the idea and we intially decided to

swap my services as a session musican for recording time on the piano

with ethan at the controls. after the first day of recording we both

felt that a collective project was in order and thus we embarked upon a

series of recording dates(i believe there were six in total) which led

to the collection of material which stands as the finished work at

hand.

as to the material of which this recording is comprised i would

firstly state that it all falls under an umbrella of a particular mood

or sonic pallette which had been in my mind for quite sometime. this

mood was one both somber and beautiful, melancholy and hopeful. the

final process of picking particular songs, versions, and order of play

was deftly accomplished by ethan. his ear in the actual process of

recording and in terms of the vibe of individual performance was

indespensable to the creation of this record.

seven of the ten pieces on the record are solo piano pieces with the

first four being played as written in more of a 'classical' mode than

the latter numbers which are mostly interpretations of two of my

favorite jazz composers, thelonious monk and horace silver

respectively.

there are two trio moments the first of which happens at the end of

my favorite Big Star song 'big black car'. i played through a great

many songs to find the vibe i was looking for in this very trippy tune.

the beautiful outro chords are a perfect backdrop for a lushly

psychedelic interaction which ethan and my former texas compatriot

edwin livingstone accomplished beyond what i could have explained to

them verbally. ethan's drums and edwin's bass make another appearance

on carla bley's haunting 'ida lupino'. one of my favorite melodies in

any style of music, it was a song that had been in my brain for months

and as soon as we stared playing it i knew it was right on the money

for this record. horace silver's 'peace finishes the record and is the

final interactive moment as edwin once again appears to fill out the

sonic idea. it is a simple double statement of the melody. i felt the

inherent perfection of this songs stood out most starckly with the

least amount of meddling. i hope that it's message is both coherent and

viable in this crazy world.

to sum this all up i would simply say that this record was a pleasure

to make and, i sincerely hope, a pleasure to hear. i am grateful to all

involved especially ethan and look forward to making more music soon.

thank you for listening.

dave palmer

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