FROM THE STUDY of Donegal Presbyterian Church

July 2010

I am always looking for music that is different in the sense that it is more creative and not produced just to make money for the artist. It is with great delight that I can highly recommend two albums (CDs) for your music library.

"Leave Your Sleep", by Natalie Merchant is a remarkable work of devotion and musical imagination, which took five years of research and writing to produce. This 2-disc album contains 26 poems, stories, and songs that Ms. Merchant had shared with her daughter during the first six years of her life. The authors/composers range from Mother Goose, to Edward Lear, to Robert Louis Stevenson, to E. E. Cummings, to Ogden Nash. One of the joys of this project is the booklet that houses the discs, which contain fascinating biographical insights on all the authors/composers. Ms Merchant worked on these, too. She writes in the Introduction: "The Poet’s work is putting silence around everything worth remembering. Poetry on the page can be difficult to penetrate; sometimes it needs to be heard. I used music to enter these poems, and once inside I was able to understand how they were constructed with layers of feeling and meaning."

Musically, her arrangements vary from Celtic influence, to New Orleans jazz, Latin flavors, symphonic sounds and simple harmonies. Famed trumpet player, Wynton Marsalis, makes a couple of appearances, too! My favorites are found on disc #2, starting with "The Janitor’s Boy", "Griselda", "The Land of Nod" (WOW), "Vain and Careless" (very touching),

and "Spring and Fall: to a young child" (very haunting!). Kids and adults can share in the wonders of this album!

"Jasmine", by jazz greats Keith Jarrett (piano) and Charlie Haden (Double-Bass) is for jazz lovers that yearn for an authentic recording without electronic enhancements and retakes galore. This recording was done in Jarrett’s small studio with no rehearsal time other than going over some chord changes when necessary. This album features love songs such as "For All We Know", "Where Can I Go Without You", "One Day I’ll Fly Away", "Body and Soul" and "Don’t Ever Leave Me", (8 all together).

Why this album? In Jarrett’s words, "Art is dying in this world, and so is listening, as the world becomes more full of toys and special effects. With this death will come the undoing of many possible feelings: beautiful, tender, deep, trusting, true, sad, full of internal meaning and color. Closeness won’t have to necessarily be physical. Intimacy will be hard to find. Communication will be lost. Here is some music for you. Take it and it’s yours. An ecstatic moment in music is worth the lifetime of mastery that goes into it, because it can be shared." Play this album late at night when the stress of the day is over. Sit down and listen. Jarrett and Haden have done a superb job in keeping these love songs intact.

Have a rest-filled, musically uplifting summer!

Peace,

TOM

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The Cross         Universal symbol of Christian faith

The Dove         The presence of God as the Holy Spirit

The Fish           Early symbol of being a Christian

The Book          The Word of God

The Pulpit         Preaching the Word of God

The Cup           Chalice and baptismal font: 

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

The Fire            The burning bush (Exodus 3) and Pentecost (Acts 2)

The Triangle     The Trinity

The Presbyterian Handbook, Geneva Press, Louisville, KY,

2006, p.78.