SkyHigh by Will Tuttle

New Age Retailer Magazine wrote, "SkyHigh is all Will, all solo piano. He often sounds like two or three people playing at once, all vibrant, soaring, swirling chords in rich melodic tapestries that weave spells of hope and inspiration. The passion and commitment to planetary healing is evident throughout this wonderful, transportive paean to the sky."

Celebrating the unbounded, joy-filled music of heaven, SkyHigh follows an intricate inner journey in which the first three pieces lift the listener skyward, the next six pieces arrive and explore uplifting aspects of the inner skyscape, and the last two allow both return and further exploration into endless vistas of being. As Magical Blend Magazine wrote, "I don't usually enjoy piano music without other instruments or vocals, but Will Tuttle brings a depth to his playing that few equal. There is a spiritual quality to this release that is authentic and heartfelt by the musician. SkyHigh transported me to a time of innocence. What a gift Will Tuttle has."

Ideal for dancing, driving, flying, and celebrating, SkyHigh is swirling and up-tempo, the perfect companion to lift your spirits, and yet it is also so relaxing that some professional massage therapists and Reiki practitioners use it for their healing sessions. As Spirit of the Heart Radio program host Grace Spencer wrote, "SkyHigh: I liked it at first listen and it gets better with each play! Every piece is beautiful, joyful, heartening. Trust me-it will improve your disposition and make you smile. Keep it close."

The pieces on SkyHigh (total time 63:16):

1. Bursting Light (4:47) The exuberant anticipation generated by this opening piece in C major establishes the hopeful and joyous tenor of SkyHigh's exploration into the unbounded music of heaven.

2. Soaring Beyond Sunrise (5:06) Inspired by the potent energy of Minneapolis's beloved Lake Harriet, Soaring Beyond Sunrise seems to lift the listener higher and higher into the heavens, like climbing with strong wings. The G major melodic theme dips in and out of E minor, building dramatic tension and increasing altitude and momentum.

3. SkyHigh (6:16) This rousing title piece weaves three melodic themes into a provocative and ultimately triumphant further exploration into the heart of the sky. The two D minor themes, one plaintive and one syncopated, resolve into a dramatically reassuring and confident D major theme that seems to usher the listener into the presence of a felt higher dimension.

4. Secret Winds (4:35) The sweet opening melodic lines convey a sense of having safely arrived in the celestial realm of effortless freedom. Back in the key of C again, a higher octave has been attained, giving the feeling of surveying a new landscape and dancing lightly through wondrous fresh vistas with all the bittersweet earthly connections poignantly sensed.

5. Deva Swirl (1:29) This short piece in F and D minor is a romp, playing in breezes, swirling like the devas (shining angels) with innocence and joy.

6. Spring Dragon (3:32) Continuing in the key of F, the reputed key of the heart, this infectiously happy waltz continues the sky exploration from the Devas to the Eastern Dragon, that great beneficent force that brings rain, healing, and creativity when it flies into the sky every spring.

7. Dance For The Arctic Moon (5:35) This fast-paced music adventure explores the sky-terrain of the arctic moon and night. The moon invites a D minor theme portraying the arctic wolves, who come upon the caribou and their F major theme, and the solitary moon witnesses their vital and ultimately ecstatic dance of life, death, and rebirth.

8. Around The World (16:00) Unfolding slowly and accelerating brightly, Around The World interlaces a half-dozen D major melodies into an uplifting and spiraling free improvisation that swirls the listener gently and relentlessly through the vast sky world. This extended piece of music is passionate and inspired, climbing up and sweeping down, alternating duple and triple meters, and sending blessings for world peace and joy around the earth.

9. The Joy Of Sky (3:49) A paean to the infinite exuberance of the celestial music crowning our world, this piece builds and flows, boldly modulating between the keys of G and B-flat, and rounding out the music exploration of the inner skyscapes.

10. Corona (0:56) This delicate interlude was inspired by a little mouse who had found her way into the Karuna Studio. Before relocating her, Will put her in a large glass jar, and setting it in front of him on the piano, tuned into her spirit, and this music emerged! The animals of this earth are precious, and all have their own music, as this piece demonstrates.

11. Touched by Wings (4:54) The last two pieces suggest carrying the listener back to a transformed earth, and also onward further into the never-ending mystery. Marked by an exploration of the dramatic tension between tonic and dominant polarities perhaps symbolizing the earth/sky, positive/negative complementarities that underlie manifest reality, this waltz in D, the key of generativity, blends seamlessly into the last piece.

12. End Of Dreams (5:51) This enormously inspired extemporaneous improvisation brings the listener to the threshold of endless vistas of light, climaxing in waves of happiness, compassion, and freedom, and modulating finally back into the heart-key of F for an extended denouement into the utterly peaceful awareness of the profound inter-being of all life.

Average Customer Review: 3