When you Hear It, by Sean Riddle

When you Hear It

by Sean Riddle

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1.	Acorn (For Octavia Butler) 02:38	buy track
2.	Post R.P.M 03:06	buy track
3.	Threnos 02:59	buy track
4.	Sphere 01:20	buy track
5.	When You Hear It (For Eric Dolphy) 03:26	buy track
6.	Disolution 01:38	buy track
7.	For Henry Grimes 02:39	buy track

about

The title is a reference to an Eric Dolphy quote: “When you hear music, after it’s over, it’s gone in the air. You can never capture it again.” Dolphy has been on my mind a lot lately and this quote truly incapsulates the beauty of improvisation.

These pieces were improvised during the uprisings that occurred after the lynching of George Floyd, so I would like to dedicate this music to the victims of racism in the US, and abroad, and to the Black Lives Matter movement as they guide us towards a better world. Creative music, particularly the Black American musical tradition, is deeply connected to politics, serving both as reflections on current/past events and a call to action. Politics is inseparable from this music.

Alongside this, I have always felt that solo performance is actually a duet with silence and have begun to explore my relationship with silence through, so called, “solo” improvisations, with this recording serving as my first document of what I’ve learned so far. My goal was to record short pieces that focused on developing an idea while honoring silence, letting the music grow and die as it needs. Hopefully I achieved that.

The music was recorded from home over a week and thus there is some background sounds from outdoor and indoor activities, as well as some buzzes my bass had at that time. It is nonetheless a part of this recording.