Prayers and Mad Laughter by Kazzrie Jaxen

Because how does one even conceive

such studio compositions? You must be sure what exactly

it is that you want by "take one", because you will

need space for five pianos to come. That comes close

to genius. Oh, yes, and a likeable madness.

Just listen to the singing on "bahdeebahdu", a duet with

singer John Roth. Together they start giggling by the

time one of them should take a solo, and soon they

burst out in unstoppable laughter. No question about

it, this piece of silliness is the definitive version!

But it makes you worry a bit if all will end so well

during a live performance. How crazy is this woman in

person? I am secretly curious to know and find out."

Remco Takken, www.kindamuzik.net, translated

.....

Hi! I'm Kazzrie.

This music comes straight out of my life

experience. It represents the evolutionary

process we are all going through at this

point in history. It begins in the

2-dimensional world which is personal,

visible, rhythmic. Then it bursts into laughter,

which the poet Hafiz calls "the soul waking

up". The laughter serves as a doorway into

the multi-dimensional realm, which is

universal, invisible, not bound by time or

space.

This CD is a dimensional adventure you can

experience. People have emailed me

saying it's inspired them to create art,

that their hair tingles when they listen

to it, that tears start streaming. . .

and then they're laughing. . .

PRAYERS AND MAD LAUGHTER is an expression of

the state of "madness" we're all going through

as we release the "old" and embrace the "new",

as we evolve into what Barbara Marx Hubbard

has named "The Universal Human, an emergent

species coming out of and evolving from Homo

sapiens." The world is presently experiencing

the chaos that comes from this evolutionary

process. It is affecting us personally and

globally.

This CD - after all the wild music - ends on

a unison "C", as if the heart and mind have

come together to "see" in a new way! This

wasn't planned, it just happened in the

improvising. That's how it feels to live

through the chaos - you feel like you're

coming apart, and you are! Then you're

put back together again in a new way,

more unified and harmonious. You get to

enjoy that for a while, and then it happens

all over again.

PRAYERS AND MAD LAUGHTER is an expression

of surrender. The chaos and order become

equally beautiful in the surrendering,

as we actively engage in our evolution.

Moving toward unity, we begin by embracing

the extremes of duality - dissonance as

well as harmony - and discover a richer

connection with all of Creation.

.....

The CD can be listened to with or without

headphones. Listening with good quality

headphones in a comfortable setting (lying

down) will intensify the inner journey and

multi-dimensional experience. The treble

and bass settings should be straight in the

middle - just as it was recorded - nothing

added or taken away. The listener should

open to the adventure, trusting the process.

Each person will experience it differently.

The quality of the listening equipment will

make a big difference in how the music can be

received.

.....

What follows is basic press release info

about me, the CD, and the way it was created.

But first. . .

There are two amazing poems printed inside

the CD, relating to the music, by Mark

Weber and Eli Goodwin. I want to thank these

two wordsmiths for being part of this.

(Mark is also a Jazz DJ extraordinaire

for KUNM in Albuquerque NM, and Eli is

a photographer who shows his work in

Cambridge, Mass.) Also, special thanks to

Andrew Harvey, mystic and passionate author,

whose translations of Rumi's poems have

guided me through wild waters. One of

these poems, from the book "Love's Fire",

bursts forth in track #9.

Deepest thanks to John Grabowski for

amazing liner notes (check out his

reviews on Amazon.com - he's written

over a hundred!) And to Dana Duke, for

great recording and graphics at BigTwig

Studios in Roscoe, NY (www.bigtwig.com).

(Dana's also a world class photographer,

www.danaduke.com.)

John Roth, vocalist and fellow giggler on

"bahdeebahdu", is actually a master carpenter

and creator of outrageously beautiful and

humorous furniture. He doesn't have a

website yet, but you can email him at

upacreek@ezaccess.net.

Warren Muller and RJ Thornburgh own the

studio in Philadelphia called "bahdeebahdu"

that inspired the song (and the laughter!)

Check out their website to see dazzling

light sculptures and interior design,

www.bahdeebahdu.com.

.....

The theme of "PRAYERS AND MAD LAUGHTER" is re-creation.

The music was created in three recording sessions in the

time period from 1997-2003.

"COUNTERPOINT" consists of seven two-piano improvisations,

and corresponds to a poem written by Mark Weber (printed

inside the CD).

"ADAM AND EVE, TAKE 2" is a blues song entitled

"bahdeebahdu", sung and played by Kazzrie with vocalist

John Roth. It turns into contagious laughter.

"RE-CREATION" is an extended improvisation entitled

"Prayers and Mad Laughter" which is 33 minutes long. It

has six pianos and voices, travels through many different

textures and moods, and corresponds to a poem written by

Eli Goodwin (printed inside the CD).

In his liner notes, John Grabowski writes: "Cosmologists

have recently decided everything in the universe is

composed of tiny 'strings' that by way of vibration morph

into anything and everything around us. I don't know if

that really describes the universe, but it certainly does

describe the music here. It keeps changing as you're

listening to it, into things familiar, things not. . .The

music on this CD is immense, but intimate at the same

time. Organized and chaotic, bizarre and familiar, silly

and sublime, structured and free -- why should there be

boundaries?"

"The experience of improvising 'Re-Creation' was primal",

says Kazzrie. "I felt as if an ancient and wild wail

suddenly rose up inside of me. I experienced a primordial

connection to feminine energy and to the Earth -- whales,

wolves, birds, oceans, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes --

the terrible raw beauty of birth. I was going through my

own personal healing and rebirth, and improvising opened a

dimensional doorway through which I experienced a

universal connection."

Kazzrie Jaxen, formerly known as Liz Gorrill,

left New York City and her life as a jazz pianist ten

years ago, when she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue

Syndrome. She moved to upstate NY, thinking her life

as a musician was over because her hands and arms were

so weak she could no longer play. She spent two years

in solitude, having the extraordinary experience of

healing under the tutelage of Mother Nature, who became

her primary physician and master teacher.

Her present work merges the multiple streams of her

musical experience: a background in classical music

as a child, a twenty-year immersion in jazz improvisation,

and the transformative power of vibration as taught to

her by Nature. Her music is spontaneously improvised,

but not stylistically restricted to a particular genre.

Kazzrie's decision to change her name came from the

profound sense that she had literally been given a new

life. In 2002 she created a one-woman show, "Kazzrie In

Boogie And Blue", as a rite of passage. She combined

original music, art, poetry and stories that celebrated

the challenges and humor of her life as Liz Gorrill,

bringing in the new energy for her life as Kazzrie Jaxen.

She performed the show in 2002 and 2003 in New York and

North Carolina ("true and rare artistry"; "a dazzling

explosion of talent!") and hopes to bring it to a wider

audience, as she feels it conveys and inspires the

experience of re-creation on a personal and universal

level.

Kazzrie has performed in the US and in Europe as a

soloist and with her jazz duos and trios. She has

recorded with the Jazz Records and New Artists labels.

She has founded a "birthing" modality to support the

evolutionary process we are in, where people lie

underneath the piano as she connects with their energy

and plays into their bodies. She has studied and taught

energy diagnosis with Meredith Young-Sowers at The

Stillpoint School For Advanced Energy Healing in NH.

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