Music To Picture The Surreal by Jack West

" - Kirsten Anderson, Owner, Roq La Rue Gallery

In Jack's music you might also catch his musical tip-of-the-hat nods to Richard Rodgers, Beethoven, Henry Mancini, Danny Elfman, Carl Orff, Michel Legrand, Victor Herbert and Leonard Bernstein... among others who have influenced him over the years.

About the music you'll hear, some notes...

Clown Throws A Fit:

Though this piece starts off brightly, it's mood soon turns and becomes clearly manic as The Clown barks sarcastically, mimicking the person he’s angry at, experiencing emotional ups and downs, giving way to thrashing about in his rage and crying painfully out of his hurt. Ah, clowns... they're only laughing on the outside, you know.

Walking Through The Roq La Rue:

I imagine walking through the corridors of the art exhibit... Many times, when I view paintings, I find myself entering their world, experiencing what my mind envisions what the paintings portend I'd experience in their world. The paintings’ details speak to me, capturing me, drawing me in, until I'm immersed and lost in someplace I've never been before.

Why So Happy? Why So Sad?:

A juxtaposition of sad theme and joyful theme, one leading to the other, back and forth again, weaving a leapfrog of each throughout the piece. Two sides of the same coin.

Here Died Santa Claus (The Kris Kringle Death Dirge):

A flight of fancy... What happens if you take a popular Christmas song about 'Santa coming to town'... but change it to a sad minor key to reflect Santa leaving... leaving us forever? Apparently, this music happens! "Ho, ho" becomes "Oh, woe"... Death bells toll, the dirge segues to the funeral procession with all its mourners wailing en route, and finally, Santa’s burial as he’s slowly laid to eternal rest at long last.

Una Canción Que Oí:

"A song I once heard". The story of a man, who, while yet in his mother's womb, hears a sad song drift by, a song of betrayal, hurt, pain, devastation... and many years later, the sad story of that song finds him and haunts his life, and becomes the end story of his life - as he was marked with it from before his birth, destined to not escape its tragedy - a story of which he shall now die in grief, for the song he first heard has become the song he shall die with. As it was in the beginning, so it is at the end.

That segues to:

Laméntese:

A lament. Tortured. Twisted. Tormented. Powerful - yet still, as with most torments, it has a silver lining here and there... yet its "second thought" ending hints that the pain promises possibly more pain yet to come, more devastating and hurtful and twisted than the first, as pain without restraint can beget even more pain.

Diesel:

Just boogie fun... I had the idea of mixing mechanical and other sounds with music and having it all chug along together like some kind of musical engine - that finally goes beserk and breaks down.

Au Dessus De La Tente:

Which is French for "At The Top Of The Tent", which is where I direct your attention, ladies and gentlemen, to the high-wire act I hear above, as they delicately, slowly, place one foot in front of the other, attempting a daring feat way above the crowd at mid-wire, then precariously regaining their balance and inching forward again engaged in a joyful little to and fro dance before their exuberant finish brings the act slowly to its end.

So Long, It's Been Surreal (Clown Throws A Reprise):

Most of the little bits and pieces from the other tracks that I really enjoyed creating, re-mixed and edited together, along with a few new treats, into a final compilation to leave you with in saying goodbye.

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