Preface
Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park
"EXTRACTS FROM THE ANNUAL REGISTER OF REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES IN 1839.
Jan. 9. - Discovery of the real Vegetable Pills: - a patient hoaxed the vendor, and, instead of taking them, sowed them in his garden. A fine crop of peas was the result. The man had been selling those pleasant vegetables, in boxes, disguised as pills by being covered with an outer coating of flour; but, from having been always in flower, they were now thoroughly blown!
In the north, a Coroner's inquest was held upon the body of a man who died from taking another kind of Vegetable Pills. On opening the body the interior was discovered to be one huge cabbage, of great dimensions, but dead, to its heart's core, of confinement and want of water - a beverage which the patient unfortunately never drank. The jury returned a verdict of 'quits.' 'Quits, gentlemen!' exclaimed the dismayed Coroner - 'never heard of such a thing! What do you mean?' 'Why,' replied the foreman, with some warmth. 'we find that if the cabbage killed the man, the man most certainly killed the cabbage; and if that ain't quits, blow me!'"
from The Comick Almanack, First Series 1835-1843
Texts
Live
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Husky Records presents Russell Coe and Natalia Quintanilla
Chapel
Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Russell Coe
I am here before the time
and the space is darkened
and scented
with sounds
as there is no reason
not to have begun
it has
were this a space
what sort would it be?
fluid filled
immersed
present
the tiny made huge
finger twitch
nebulamorphic
endless tidal
labor
an articulatoin
by dynamic subduction
arrivals
pass bys
wanders through
departures
lose hold on self
in an oceanic presence
we rearticulate
down to a hum
lights down
Natalia Quintanilla
accordion
mass floating reeds
pressure
kneading
boom boom room
dance go weird
uptempo nerves
road soughage
beat wash
whelmment
scrim of electronic sound
as a stage
holding us
and it
in an immersion
of close separation
Recorded
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 314 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
the details of how he gets it to fit together
fascinating as they are
are not as crucial
as the image
of fitting together so well
is
to the presumed culture
of the time and place
of
its composition
the world is rational
and all the pieces fit
Lobe den Herrn, meine Selle, BWV 69 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Gächinger Kantorei, Helmut Rilling
the fugue discusses it
in committee
a coherent consensus
elaborating itself
statements wrapped
in a bright cloud of string tones
melismas
celebrate their word
through their accented
syllables
the lines
of the chorale
end
in brassy celebration
Kinderszene: Der Dichter spricht, Op. 15 #13 - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
having listened to one pianist's recordings of these pieces
all together
at once
and now
this pianist's of them
one at a time
my feeling is
that they are all moments
in a larger piece
formed of their grouping
Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen, S. 488 (After Franz, Op. 4/7) - Franz Liszt - Leslie Howard
reveling in the new sense
of lyrical poetry
erupting around them
4 Pièces: Prelude in E-flat Major, Op. 56 #1 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
formidably armored
Please Help Me Get Him Off My Mind - Bessie Smith [from Empty Bed Blues]
trombone asks
what's up
voice
spells it out
The Wearing of the Green - Peggy Lee [from Sea Shells]
is this
some strange
art-pop take
on the folk revival
All The Things You Are - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of the Verve Song Book]
a gown that sparkles more with each verse
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
'Bout Time - Louis Armstrong [from Disney Songs the Satchmo Way]
Armstrong serves whichever song he's singing unconditionally
The Rock - The Who [from Quadrophenia]
a grandiose rehash
with nowhere to go
Independence Day - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy]
general vacation of the old ways
Katmandu - Kirby [from Bard Sampler, '82-'83]
bad advice
with drums and a saxophone
Forever Young - Bob Dylan and The Band [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's A Miscellaneous Miscellany]
in the form of a blessing in verse
Allegretto from Sinfonia - Empire Brass Quintet [from Class Brass on The Edge]
filling time
Between You and I - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
as though the listener
were the you of the title
we
are
being told
her
piece of mind
In Da Club - 50 Cent [from Get Rich or Die Tryin']
cyclic living
no exit
Steps of the Ordinarily Ordinary - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]
in the form of an extended fanfare
Funhouse Mondays - Dead Bars [recorded live at The Comet Tavern, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
dive from the past
celebrated in fitting spirit
The Whale's Tale - Steve Layton & Sound-In [from The Summer Sessions]
surf sough
waves of songs from below
as sung
by the seabirds
circling above
I Got Everything I Need - Eddie Floyd [from Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos]
the easy
studio relaxed
intimacy
is wonderful
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Slow Motion - Benny Moton [from Really The Blues]
the band introduces themselves
before settling onto the dance floor
for the folks
Love On My Mind - Ray Charles, Milt Jackson [from Soul Brothers/Soul Meeting]
jazz is a state of minds
depicting performance
as a performance practice
Quito Sleeps - Lake Washington Singers, Betty Eisenbrey, JoAnne Deacon [recorded live April 16, 1963]
lingering on the porch tempo
mood
Why Me? - ? and The Mysterians [from The Very Best of ? and The Mysterians]
two sides of my mind rut
Roy Rogers - Elton John [from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]
English youth
fixating
on movie cowboys
Johnny Quest - Lost Cause [from Bard Sampler, '82-'83]
gag band for larks
Riverbed - Girl Trouble [from Hit It or Quit It]
another music
as an act
to amuse
the beer guzzlers
sing with flexed biceps
Mes pas semez - Baltimore Consort [from Le Rocque & Roll]
strange how rock & roll
is used as code
for popularity
this may have had its time and place
but
as cultural phenomenon
popularity
is a crude measure
this track is quite pleasant
The Merced - Tingstad & Rumble [from American Acoustic]
for relaxing to
nothing
but cushions and warm fires
Encore - Jay-Z [from The Black Album]
producing adulation
as a product
to be sold
and adulated
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift [from Fearless]
Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park
we get the whole movie
in one aching teen heart
(a bit much for an
old dude)
Wish You Was Here to Laugh With Me - Canals of Venice [recorded live at The Comet Tavern, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
opening for the early arriving fans
Off Stockton - Anxious Arms [from Feeler]
big noise
to protect a feeling
Lacrymosa - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 5: 1984-1988]
concerning melodic intervals
that hang in harmonic space
declamation
that seems to
each statement
linked to the
last
and presuming
the next
steps and skips
and
anguished turns
spectral repetitions
through the walls
Feather Bed - Cannon's Jug Stompers [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
song
as publication dance
for rural poetry
Many Harry Returns - Norman Monath [from Songs of the Pogo]
Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park
before
be five
be four
You've Got Her - Aretha Franklin [from Laughing on the Outside]
she doesn't want to share him
Piggys - The Beatles [from The Beatles (The White Album)]
resentment
Original Rags - Scott Joplin - E. Power Biggs
music
as a simulacrum of music
It's Like That - Run D.M.C. [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
dance to the hard truths of life
Christmas Waltz - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy To The World]
this song
sounds like a shopping mall
back when they glittered
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| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Violin Concerto in D minor - Aram Khachaturian - Itzhak Perlman [from The Art of Itzhak Perlman]
all committee boxes checked
by the book
national pride piece
no chance of getting lost
in its intricacies
and
tune
bird
seems poised
for a dramatic moment
avoided till later
perhaps
{NB we escaped unsplatted}
first
we must visit the
dark interior
second movement
wants to be an opera scene
ends in slumber
wake up
get busy
industry waits not
follow the clear line
in single file
you can't miss it
soft modernism
Track 11 - Richard Rorex, Reid Merryman [from Mood for Richelle]
arranging the same Gershwin prelude
I'm referencing
in my latest
Detritus in progress
Bocephus - Scurvy Bastards [from Battle Born]
laughing like pirates
swig the beer
2nite - Janet Jackson [from Discipline]
bodies loosened in dance
cross fertilized identification fantasies
The Stars (Are Out Tonight) - David Bowie [from The Next Day]
dance with inscrutable words
The Woods - Juicy Thompson and The Snuggle Regime [from Self Untitled Cassingle]
interesting take on thrash punk
yip yip yip yip like a dog
Lwonesome Tonight - PJ Harvey [from I Inside The Old World Dying]
the notes of the tune
know where they're headed
over the chord
change partition
Stealin' - Memphis Jug Band [from Really The Blues]
Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park
stealin' back
to my same old used to be
Heartbreak Hotel - Stan Freberg [from The Very Best of Stan Freberg]
metrical tempo change
by echo effect mimic
I Concentrate On You - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of the Verve Song Book]
she tricks
into thinking
she might
just
be singing it
straight
at which
you've lost the game
sophisticuffs
Rainy Day, Dream Away - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]
half way to Cheech & Chong
Mr. Hendrix grew up not far from here
so we understand rainy day similarly
Kodachrome - Paul Simon [from The Essential Paul Simon]
in celebration
of sunny day
oh yeah
Infra Red - Carrige [from Bard Sampler, '82-'83]
inventing with equipment
Stani Mi, Maytcho - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, Volume 2]
explicitly nationalist
subtextually poignant
Saints Bound for Heaven - Robert Shaw Festival Singers [from Amazing Grace]
another one I'm familiar with
from the inside
Nathaniel - Outkast [from Aquemini]
message machine poem
Love Profusion - Madonna [from American Life]
diary entries
floating on a spell
breath intake
rhythm
drumming
No Surprise - Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs [from Crooked Path]
the band is pure country
singer is escaped to the city
Pollen (Part 1) - Learning Team [from Aporia Coda]
nature documentary
sound track
fan art
Ends of The Earth - Kara Hess [from Soujourner]
Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park
escape from the west
on the wings of a companion
Seeds - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 5: 1984-1988]
what it is
and what it might be made of
and what it might become
such tiny scores
such large music
complex polyrhythm
(rubato ad libitum)
the harp reverberance
has its own
polyrhythmic roils
specification
of a set
of tonalities
Up In Glory - Dr. Smith [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
strong and plain intervals
sung honest
beyond pretense of style
bare bones of song
Leah - Roy Orbison [from For the Lonely]
Caribbean vacation romance fantasy
One After 909 (Sequence) - The Beatles [from Anthology]
trouble with a plectrum
then trouble with remembering how it goes
Lonesome Suzie - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
sings like a howling hound
Look Me Up (mono) - Blue Magic [a Rescued Record]
pep pop pick me up pill
How Can I Refuse - Heart [from Greatest Hits]
big stage production
on multiple platforms
I Like Cherries - Audio Two [from What More Can I Say]
fruitology
Cold Mountain Songs: Piano Interlude - Robert Morris - Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
time for thought to collect
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill [from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill]
testimony
of determination
to proceed
self-heroically
 |
| Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park |
Hip Hop Star (feat. Big Boi & Sleepy Brown] - Beyoncé [from Dangerously in Love]
posing the notion
that sex with a star
is
by virtue of that
fact alone
extra scrumptious
relatively brief for a dance number
Olivia - Tea Cozies [from Tea Cozies]
straight from suburban teen life
to you
I Heard That You Are Moving - Mikey & Matty Gervais [from Harbor Island]
a mere emoticon of a groove
With You - Mariah Carey [from Caution]
mumbles into the song proper
interrupts herself
crossing into a
next line
sings with a doubled tongue
another shortish cut
Camber Music V: Stained Glass - Steve Peters [from
Chamber Music]
Skyline Trail, Mt. Rainier National Park
at least two
perhaps three pitches
at wide octaves
new elements emerge
on the clear surface
the surface
fades
alone
with the elements
In Session at The Tintinabulary
February 22, 2026
Westford - Keith Eisenbrey
February 23, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1145 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer]
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 30: Sabbatical Improvisations (part 1) 2013-2014
In 2013 I had reached an inflection point in my big project, Études d'exécution imminent, and took a sabbatical (indifferently observed) from composing written-down music. I filled the time with various forms of improvisation, both "in-the-moment" composing, and sometimes puttering about with multi-tracking and other digitally applied effects. Here are the first bunch of them.
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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