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| Washington Arboretum |
"Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. So Samuel told all the wordes of the Lord unto the people that asked a king of him. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint [them] for himself, for his chariots, and [to be] his horsemen; and [some] shall run before his chariots. Also he will make them his captaines ouer thousands, and captaines ouer fifties, and to eare his ground, and to reape his haruest, and to make instruments of warre, and the thinges that serue for his charets. He will also take your daughters and make them apoticaries and cookes, and bakers. And he will take your fields, & your vineyardes, and your best Oliue trees, and giue them to his seruants. And he will take the tenth of your seede, and of your vineyards, & giue it to his Eunuches, and to his seruants. And he will take your men seruants, and your maide seruants, and the chiefe of your yong men, and your asses, and put them to his worke. He will take the tenth of your sheepe, and ye shall be his seruants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day."
I Samuel 8:9-18 (Geneva Version)
Texts
Recorded
July 5, 2025
Boo Boo's Birthday - Thelonious Monk [from Underground]
a complex series of like events
keep it all in your ear mind
Your Man My Man - Betty Davis [from Betty Davis]
as with a knife at ones throat
threat postures
Someone to Watch Over Me - Willie Nelson [from Stardust]
truly one of Gershwin's best
sung with respect
Without You - David Bowie [from Let's Dance]
manufactured glow on his vocal falsetto
suppleness
Banned Rehearsal 136 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [April 3, 1983]
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| Banned Rehearsal 136 |
to San Diego's opera stage
when did I first?
that was the last
oh oh one
is cracked
a fool I must be
pogopuppeteer
bow
box
July 6, 2025
Bring da Ruckus - Wu-Tang Clan [from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)]
threat of harm is conversational default mode
machismo
Glory to God - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle, September 6, 2006]
clearly formed melody
accompaniment stays out of its way
and
supports
Track 1 - Victorious Gospel Choir [from Bruce Springsteen: Christmas in Asbury Park]
the choir's sound
is somewhat lost
in
what sounds like
a large space
try
as they mightily do
Banned Rehearsal 740 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [June 9, 2008]
a session is a conversation
that involves its space
as intimately
as its participants
feedback production
always carries
a potential
to
overwhelm
anxiety results
that sounds like me on piano
Karen I presume
is playing the drum
and Neal
on everything else
correct
feedback
touch
and flavor
of rhetorical sequitur
this percussion stuff
is lovely
metallic sounds
resonating
on metallic chambers
every so lightly brushed with feedback
binding those sounds together
accompanied
by harmonica
feedback humming
and guiro scratching
flute engages directly now
feedback lullaby
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| Washington Arboretum |
Dizzy - Lures [from Dizzy]
a bar
is a framework
used
to organize words
into lines
a sequence
of chord changes
is a framework
used
to organize lines
into stanzas
Ghosting Doubles (third sighting) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, March 24, 2018]
does a sequence of notes form a melody
by default
id est
if
it's a sequence of notes
then
it is a melody
or
might a process
that generates that sequence
or compromise
any such automatic melodic apprehension?
Tranquil Landscape - S. Eric Scribner [from SoundScrolls: Lost Landscapes]
microtonal twisting
loves being lovely
but not indulgent
spare time
that surrounds sounds
their time-breathing-room
may be tranquil
but there is no lack of activity
Madrigals, Book VIII: Altri canti di marte: No. 1, Altri canti di marte, e di sua schiera - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
drop the needle on Monteverdi
and magic is discovered
hollow harmony of morte
Monteverdi doesn't seduce like Mozart
rather
he ensnares
a
trap
into which
one
continues
to fall
Praeludium in C Major, BuxWV 136 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
lumbering through its chorale
brontosaural
it goes on and on
because clerical garb
can be complex
to
don
properly
and
they never hurry
is a change of tempo hopeful
or not
in terms of impending
post-praeludial dramatics?
nope
we have a fugue too
don't get excited
Premier livre de clavecin: Deuxieme Ordre (fin) : La Babet. Nonchalamment - François Couperin - Kenneth Gilbert
a bit of the caricaturist in him
but
in a drolly humane
spirit
draw me a porcupine
now a cow
Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroqued Choir, Ton Koopman
did Bach and his librettist presume
that the day's lesson
was
congregationally known
prior
to their instant telling of it
we'll start with deep mind bends
and earisthenics
the best way to confuse
is to clarify
clearly
characterized recitativerers
near hidden flute stops
never unlearned
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| Washington Arboretum |
some meters don't resolve themselves immediately
as soon as they do
I regret
their loss of irresolve
rhythm creates meter
which is entirely dependent upon it
meter
as an upstart sect of rhythm
Sonata in F Major, K. 494 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Kristian Bezuidenhout
1
these characters introduce themselves to us
in which process
we become involved
in their chaos
and such engaging chaos
we're delighted to be involved
2
on older keyboards
such as fortepiano
it isn't so much
the timbre delta across register
it's the presence delta
and/or speaking-time delta
presence envelope
una corda
alters all the deltas
3
instant problems
instant
and amazing solutions
Die Schöpfung, Part III - Franz Joseph Haydn - Berliner Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, Gundula Janowitzs, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Werner Krenn, Walter Berry, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wiener Singverein
let's take a look around shall we?
isn't it lovely
so pure and
chaste
hand in hand
conjoined in song
a chorus of angels
spy upon them
commenting from behind
the
arrases of Eden
upon
the bare asses
(Eve's and Adam's)
a display of voices
ends of things
are events unto
themselves
this fugue is jollier than Bach's was
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| Washington Arboretum |
Prelude in F minor, Op. 28 #18 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
crammed in
lid slammed
Album für die Jugend, Wilder Reiter, Op. 68 #8 - Robert Schumann - Eric Le Sage
the rider may be wild
but the piece has been fenced into balanced
periods
Prelude in A-flat Major, Op. 33 #4 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
the registers fight into a tonality
Mother's Religion - Kentucky Trio [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
harmony on a hum
the tempo is free from metronomic shackles
without being any less firm
In The Mornin' - Johnson, Nelson, Porkchop [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
when I was a young man
91 years ago
witness of long sufferer
Laughing at Life (take 2) - Billie Holiday [from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia]
the format of these musics
is designed for record sales
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata V - John Cage - Boris Berman
conceptually for three instruments
perhaps just two
the wooddrum
sound
and the twangy ringy sound
(in two registers)
It's Too Late - Buddy Holly and The Crickets [from The 'Chirping Crickets']
he steps into a larger echo booth
for the chorus
For All We Know - Aretha Franklin [from Laughing On The Outside]
slow dance
romantic groove
folks need hardly move
words
to travel
as directly as possible
tongue to ear
Caledonia Mission - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
sounds older than they can claim
young men singing like old men
Happy - Michael Jackson [from Music & Me]
young singing
like older
than young
if not old
Thirteen Emily Dickinson Songs: If I'm Lost - Now - George Perle - Bethany Beardslee, Morey Ritt
this music is written carefully
The Sea Song - the PKs [from Live in The Living Room]
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| Washington Arboretum |
two chords
to see saw between
(sea song see saw)
People Have The Power - Patti smith [from Dream of Life (Remastered)]
somehow I ended up with two versions of this album
a voice of impact
those with ears to hear
we shall see
what
repetition
through the weeks
works
About a Girl - Nirvana [from Unplugged in New York]
a voice of focus
PC KEE 5 - Pete Comley, Keith Eisenbrey [July 6, 2003]
jumps right into Titus Andronicus
chocolate
coffee
cawfee
coded messages
sent by typing lesson instructions
an
electric guitar
visits another's
memories'
back offices
listens in
wraith-like
another mind
is a strange
museum
doppler shifting explained
loudness levels of tones
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| Washington Arboretum |
is messing with that demonstration of Pythagorean intervals
Tannhäuser is saved!
O Glory!
we'll bring our own frogs thank you
to give the mockingbirds
a run for bragging rights
alone
the heaviness
of heavenness
conviction of hypnosis
is hypnosis
conflicting sets
of hypnotists
dissimultaneities
autolisping
we have drifted into flute space
inter-outer-planetary
where sounds go
to have fun
far from
importance
ever new
outermore spheres
Homesick - Courtney Marie Andrews [from Urban Myths]
the piano is low in the mix
as though it were from elsewhere
pitfalls of studio isolation
Scrap Film 2 - Keith Eisenbrey [September 18, 2013]
including
as I had forgotten
a performance
of my Intermezzo
6
zoo exhibit
bird and human chatter
copious occasional tape
wobble
Everything - Whitney Ballen [from You're a Shooting Star - I'm a Sinking Ship]
are y'all OK?
party in a dark mood
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| Washington Arboretum |
the game play
is clear as day
the shape
of the playfield geometry
possibly less so
fiddlin' John
fiddles honestly
It Won't Be You - Bessie Smith [from Empty Bed Blues]
blues singer
frown clown
with talk back
backing band
Study No. 9, The Anti-Abolitionist Riots (1943) - Charles Ives - Charles Ives [from Charles Ives Plays Charles Ives]
I get an impression
that he cared more
that everything be included
than
in how it sounds
making sense of it
is not his
problem
Cottontop - Stan Hasselgard [from That Devilin' Tune]
fancy jazz
that adheres not
to the old standards
of vocal
song
I'll Never Let You Go (Boo Hoo) - Little Richard [from Little Richard]
that piano
is low in the mix
but everybody
not right up to
the soloist-microphone
is also
creating
a plausible space
for this music to be in
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| Washington Arboretum |
Boys - The Beatles [from Please Please Me]
boy group
does girl group song
only slightly altered
dance
band
plays dance band hits
without regard
of dance song
gender
Remember A Day - Pink Floyd [from A Saucerful of Secrets]
in tune with ones generational peers
that they too were children
not long since s
lost in reverie
Down So Low - Etta James [from Etta James]
a slow blues stanza
in a gospel locution
aiming at the rafters
If You Pray Right - Nina Simone [from Baltimore]
but is heaven a reward
for correct living?
isn't that what Jesus
said it isn't?
11:00 Tick Tock - U2 [from Under a Blood Red Sky]
once again
the band outshines Bono
Some Sound Examples - Banned Rehearsal [April 23, 1988]
early in the Banned Rehearsal story
Neal would break into
Wild Thing
there are a bunch of them
in 1988
as a
gift to Neal
in far off San Diego
I put together a mixtape of them
and sent it off to him with no explanation
as to what it was
this is what it was
in a way
it counts
as Banned Rehearsal's
one and only
rock album
on cassette
two copies existed
several varieties
of unhinged
comportment
as if
one
were on another stage
our sound
as commodity
an
hallucinatory audience
hence the title
this one may have been recorded live
in Brechemin of all places
this is the real thing
the last was a rehearsal
for this
not sustainable
but cheery anyway
back to the studio
and at
the end
with Amazing Grace
and Uncle Louie Louie
gleefully quoding libet
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| Washington Arboretum |
the voice and the piano entwine tonally
Glory to God (Rehearsal take 2) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [July 30, 1998]
at a generous tempo and gentle
rather a fine performance for both of us
Moose Knuckles - Frieze of Life [from Nuclear Frog Pond]
a generator for alt-jazz song titles
that could be band names
name objects
made of word objects
Zither Film 17 - Keith Eisenbrey - June 15, 2008]
identified as identified by identified with
compared as compared by
compared with
shuffled as shuffled by shuffled with
isolated as
isolated by isolated with
grouped as grouped by grouped with
critiqued
as critiqued by critiqued with
queried as queried by queried with
measured
as measured by measured with
processed as processed by processed with
distilled
as distilled by distilled with
comprehended as comprehended by
comprehended with
apprehended as apprehended by apprehended with
traced
as traced by traced with
birthed as birthed by birthed with
smudged
as smudged by smudged with
sleeps as sleeps by sleeps with
These Are the Days - The Hunting Club [from Holiday Beach]
how much of the social thrust of this music
is its posturing
Corollaries (Up's Down) - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, March 24, 2018]
sinking without hurry
ever down
from the last ever
Betwixt The Electrons (Razor Space) - Pete Comley [from Paintronics 7, Early Lo-Fi Stuff - Guitar]
what is fidelity low in comparison with?
filling the media
with signal
expect ants the size of elephants
and rabid tomatoes
emerging
from flaming forests
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| Washington Arboretum |
Shreveport Blues - Clarence William's Blue Five [from That Devilin' Tune]
regional dialects
of social music
the feels of its grooves
Come Over Here - Elder Richard Bryant's Sanctified Singers [from Goodbye, Babylon]
where the jubilation
is an ecstatically sanctified dance
Just You Just Me - Lester Young [from That Devilin' Tune]
is the worthiness of a listening experience
contingent
on our
being able
to track the flow
of the changes
keeping them
in their proper sequence
or
can we leave that to the
performers?
would that question only make sense to a musician?
Night and Day - Bill Evans [from Everybody Digs Bill Evans]
begins with an empty drum set solo
song to enter the clatter later
I Wish I Was In Bowling Green - The Brothers Four [from The Brothers Four Cross-Country Concert]
complacent privileged Americana
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| Washington Arboretum |
a melody mellow
played on a cello
melody and romance
wander hand in hand
cupid never fails
assisted by a band
Directions - Carole King [from Fantasy]
this music lives
in a nice place
where conversation
is
meaningful
There Are Other Worlds - Sun Ra [from Languidity]
a dawn ritual
on one of them
mysteries
whispered
lips to ears
released
into
enlightenment
Hang Tough - The PKs [from Live in The Living Room]
music
with limited music-technical moving parts
now we'll pretend
we're Bruce Springsteen
Monkey Dance - T Bone Burnett [from The Talking Animals]
short seduction story
with chorus
and euphemismical hook stanza
standing in
for the closed bedroom door
Festive Overture - Empire Brass Quintet [from Class Brass on the Edge]
fanfare for circus clowns
and troops of acrobats
in the form of a
medley review
each feature
does their shtick in greeting
Big House On The Corner - James King [from Bed By The Window]
a music for folks to be nostalgic within
like Günter Grass's onion
slicing establishments
Banned Rehearsal 652 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer [July 7, 2003]
I record sessions
because I am greedy
I want to hear everything
again
later
ominous chimney bell
the sounds
mix themselves together
an
aural blend
devices activated
to allow entry
the desire
to categorize
sort ones thoughts
a good night to be a zither
a flute
is a feedback loop
under bodily control
feedback
loop
as expressive conduit
its worth
judged
by the
appropriateness
of the degrees of control
the player has
to
the specific
expressive
need
right tool
for the right
job
gentle electroflange
sweeps the shore
curves of waves
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| Washington Arboretum |
in a groove
inflicts a grid
upon the whole
a cage
a barrier
I shake my rattle at you
I will bang my chimney
and ring a little bell
bewilder with content
mechanical pulses
impervious to play
squeeze to burst
nearly
to separate
the parts of sound
to distinguish
its
parts
Sind' - The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet [from Laws of Motion]
this music is its own circus
Fox Spit 130923 - Keith Eisenbrey [September 23, 2013]
playing guitar
involves a sensitivity
in pitch and hard position
that is differently configured
than in playing keyboards
my automatic knowledge
of which pitches I'm playing
is a visual
metaphor
and doesn't connect with guitar notes
ignorance as a kind
of liberty
Your Car - Red Ribbon [from Dark Party]
to escape the intolerable
impossible
Sinfonia 2 (piano) - Keith Eisenbrey [June 1, 2023]
I am gratified
at how each of these Sinfonias
changes
when
played on each different instrument
Mobile Blues - Wade's Moulin Rouge Orchestra [from That Devilin' Tune]
a well rehearsed stage act
playing for folks
not to each other
Take It Easy - Duke Ellington [from Ken Burns Jazz]
inventing an urbane sophistication
They Say It's Spring - Blossom Dearie [from Give Him the Ooh-La-La]
what the modern cynics shout of
poet's plights are pathetic
Packing Up - Chris Kenner [from Land of 1000 Dances]
a dance in every activity
one of the fifty ways there must be at least
what one tells ones buddies
at the bar
Summertime - Big Brother and the Holding Company [from Cheap Thrills]
with canonic guitar intro
sung to the singer's self
Golden Lady - Stevie Wonder [from Innervisions]
speaks Vegas glitz natively
and with authority of its class
Just As Long As We're Together - Prince [from For You]
this music
is a type of music
made of types of music
Dancing With Myself - Generation X [from Nancy's Mix]
collected back when I knew people who were clued into current fashions
In Session at The Tintinabulary
July 7, 2025
Arlington - Keith Eisenbrey
Postscripts
Drops
Music of Aaron Keyt - Part 1
My decades-long collaboration/conversation with Aaron Keyt has been among my most valued musical relationships. I have two more volumes of recordings waiting in the wings, and quite a few scores queued up to learn and record. This first volume includes pieces written over the last four decades and more. The recordings were made from 2005 through 2014, except "Monsters" for piano 4-hands, which were recorded live in 2022. Jennifer K. Chung plays the Primo and I the Secundo.
Three Bagatelles (1999)
Occasional Pieces
(1984-1989)
Monsters (2022)
Three Pastorales
(1984)
Sonata (2012)
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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