Listen & tracks

3 of 7 tracks have a preview · 7 works · 51:25

1 Journey to Serenity Derek Jones 8:16
2 Violet Rays Derek Jones 7:25
3 Meditation Derek Jones 7:35
4 To Bliss Derek Jones 6:15
5 Night Sky Derek Jones 7:56
6 Distant Bells Derek Jones 7:14
7 Blue Star Derek Jones 6:44

Recorded in May 2016 during a sabbatical from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the pieces began as keyboard and synthesiser soundscapes. Flute improvisations and further percussion were added over those beds, including deep gamelan bells and, on one track, a gong played by Peter Neville.

To Bliss answers the death of Jones’s father in 2009 as a conversation between two flutes. Violet Rays draws on Gregorian chant; Night Sky on the hymn melody of forty days and forty nights. Meditation and Distant Bells imagine musicians working in a wide, timeless space, while Journey to Serenity and Blue Star close the set as images of arrival and unity.

In the artist’s words

This collection of improvisations was recorded in May 2016 during sabbatical from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne University, after solo concert tours to Europe and Canada.

It follows on from my earlier recording of Sun Down Moon Up in 2008, which is also a collection of improvisations inspired by the idea of a universal spirit in all musical cultures.

This theme is continued in these seven new improvisations. In Spirit Wind the keyboard/synthesiser tracks were recorded first with particular soundscapes and ideas in mind, and then flute improvisations were recorded over these. Other percussion and effects were added at the end of the flute recordings. Particularly beautiful are the deep Gamelan bells in Meditation and Distant Bells. The aim is to create free-flowing and expressive melodic elements over existing sounds which are sometimes a drone, but also interplay melodically with the flute lines.

The overall intention in these improvisations is to investigate and travel to a place where I can observe my journey through life and express my innermost thoughts and feelings about immediate surroundings and experiences, but also those places which are more subtle and mystical.

The fourth improvisation, To Bliss, is an experience of my father’s death in 2009. In the week after his departure I recorded the keyboard synthesiser track, which was in response to my last time with him, early in the morning, and the feeling, thoughts and visions that I experienced. The alto flute is included here with the idea that the two flutes are having a conversation together, father and son.

Other improvisations are expressions of places that I have visited and the mystical qualities that I have sensed. The second improvisation, Violet Rays, is an observation of the human condition, the good and dark qualities being played out in the world, and my perspective looking from afar as if suspended from a distance. It is based on a Gregorian chant.

The third and sixth improvisations, Meditation and Distant Bells, are in essence visualising a small ensemble of musicians improvising in an ethereal space away from the reality of this world, hence my desire to create a very large sense of space and timelessness.

Night Sky endeavours to show the tendency to feel the sense of separation in our human condition, and our need and yearning to find our true place in this world; to be completely on our own in the middle of the night, but to feel our own presence and true nature. This is based on the old hymn melody “40 Days and 40 Nights”.

The first and seventh improvisations, Journey to Serenity and Blue Star, are my attempts to show the place of arrival where one experiences a great sense of unity and tranquillity; Serenity and the Blue Star, lighting up our path towards the final goal and destination.

I hope that you enjoy this collection of flute works. It has been a rewarding and enriching experience for me to bring these experiences and thoughts into sound and to express inner feelings through the form of musical soundscapes.

— Derek Jones

Reviews

Derek Jones displays an evocative palette of tone colours, a fluid technique and ultimate control in this hauntingly expressive and innovative collection of improvisations … beautifully atmospheric … integrity and depth … full of spirit and depth

— Associate Professor Richard Davis, Melbourne University

Artists

Derek Jones

flutes, synthesiser, high pitched bells

Derek Jones has enjoyed an extensive performing career throughout Australia, Europe, the USA and Asia. Solo appearances include the Melbourne Symphony, the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the last of these taking him to Carnegie Hall, New York.