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| Columbia River, from Maryhill Museum of Art |
"And now G comes after F. What did you say I said G comes after F. Anyway it
does.
G is George Jelly Gus and Gertrude.
Nobody is so rude
Not
to remember Gertrude."
Gertrude Stein - from "To Do a Book of Alphabets and Birthdays"
Texts
Live
September 12, 2025
Puget Sounds - Contemporary Music, New Performances from King, Kitsap and
Pierce County
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center,
Seattle
Three Little Preludes for Flute and Guitar, Op. 22 - Daniel Carr - Grace Jun, flute; Victor Lucas, guitar
fragments I have shored against my ruins - William Dougherty - Sandesh Nagaraj, feedback; Carlos Cotallo, feedback; William Dougherty, feedback and piano
Nocturne - Clement Reid - Clement Reid, piano
Seven Pieces for Solo Piano, Op. 28 - Daniel Carr - Mayumi Tayake, piano
Four Songs from Bringing in the Tides: Seven Songs on Poems by 20th Century Women Poets - Gregory Youtz - Erin Calta, mezzo soprano, Sheila Bristow, piano
Passacaglia (after Boito) - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey, piano
Brass Quartet - Carson Farley
Kluster/Orchestration - Carson Farley
Rhythmic Invention - Carson Farley
Since I was performing I did not take notes, but it was a pleasure to hear from so many planets all at once. I was especially pleased to be on the same bill with one of my University of Washington classmates, Gregory Youtz, for the first time since 1980 or so. Aaron was there and took a picture of the three of us, for old time's sake. Thank you Carson and Clement for inviting me to participate! Excellent job putting this together!
Recorded
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| Walla Walla, WA |
25th Floor - Patti Smith Group [from Easter]
pounding out accentuated syllables
title at the end of each long stanza
a refrain
made
pound
on
table
clear
J. S. Bach: Air on the G String - The Canadian Brass [from High, Bright and Clear]
it's the same tune
and
(presumed) arrangement of notes
but
among different instruments
the intimacy of it
has shifted
brass
seems to be at an intrinsically greater distance
than
strings
Serenade - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded May 17, 2011]
a few bobbles but otherwise fine
the moments all have their proper
character
our quiet private lives
Love's Been Good To Me - Nina Simone [from A Single Woman]
life story spillage
prompts empathic self-remembering
recollections of our past lives
September 7, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 511 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer
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| Walla Walla, WA |
we are drunkenlikely sprawled in our corners
holding forth
reduction
to the crucial balance points
of an articulated
skelataloid
elements of composition
scattered among the agents of music
earmind deals with distinguished objects
pulling the physical signal
apart
into groups
by the particularities
of their manners of
occupying resonating space
a surfactant
populating the experience of sound
with thises and
thatses
we come upon a hymnodic shipwreck
fragment it
applause
as practiced in current concert society:
a social ritual
is played out
involving a deep sense of intimate communal
engagement
among performing agents
and listening agents
at the end of the ritual
the applause
scrubs and rinses away
that social mode
so that
we may safely return
to
normative social behavior
the more enthused
have become
the
listening agents
the more enthusiastically
they must scrub and
rinse
for life to go on
as before
auctioneering scat
sold! to December!
the session coheres
like a wandering conversation
but the places
to which it wanders
are
to this music
what dreams are
to poetry
((Sol!d to Decem!ber)?)
or
((So!ld to Dece!mber)?)
Czech toy chicken
collectively communal dreams
of a collectively communal music
manifesters of musics
{journal entry of October 30, 2006:
pretty much a blowout waste}
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| Walla Walla, WA |
Surrounded by Water - Scurvy Bastards [from Battle Born]
condition of an island state
Lids Film (Chapel Event Mix) - Keith Eisenbrey [September 4, 2008]
occasional:
designed specifically for use at an occasion
Black Sail - Chastity Belt [from No Regrets]
their sound has a warm pointedness
high on the palate
forward
Chickadee's Chicks' Cheeps - Keith Eisenbrey [May 27, 2018]
doing their best
among the hostile roars and snarls
of hominids
and their machines
they get very excited when food shows up
Home - Bad Hug (with Bree O'C) [from Dirt Cult Records: Dead Bars - You Don't Have To Be Cool]
as seen from afar
Madrigals, Book VIII: Ardo, ardo, avvampo, mi struggo - Claudio Monteverdi - Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
to be sung with straight faces
difficult passages await
a music of extreme moods
Von Gott will Ich nicht lassen, BuxWV 220 - Dieterich Buxtehude - Simone Stella
simple motions beneath
are a ground
for the elaborate
ornamentation
of the leading organ stop
Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget, BWV 64 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Ton Koopman
how many musics can music hold
sometimes they line up nicely
to
make a narrow passage
musics in their private quarters
we are instructed
 |
| Walla Walla, WA |
Mazurka in C Major, Op. 33 #3 - Frédéric Chopin - Garrick Ohlsson
this C Major hangs gently above a garden pool
Album für die Jugend: Kleiner Morgenwanderer, Op. 68 #17 - Robert Schumann - Éric Le Sage
refreshing ear stroll
Années de Pèlerinage, Année II, S. 161: VII. Après une lecture du Dante. Fantasia quasi sonata - Franz Liszt - Beatrice Berrut
painting scenes and telling stories
the soundtrack existed
as a
force in culture
prior to film
music begat film
the whole of the keyboard
at instant
sonorous
command
Prelude in G minor, Op 37 #4 - Alexander Scriabin - Dmitri Alexeev
poking around in Liszt's old digs
Tippin' Out - Pink Anderson , Simmie Dooley [from That Devilin' Tune]
the noble honk of a kazoo
introduces a comic song
with slick dance
moves
Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata XII - John Cage - Boris Berman
this dance gestures
in prescribed poses
Yes Indeed! - Ray Charles [from Yes Indeed!]
somber reed organ
is just the staid book cover
over the party
inside
Please Mister Postman - The Beatles [from With The Beatles]
what is the postman post?
currentman?
waiting for the postman
Piece of My Heart - Big Brother and The Holding Company [from Cheap Thrills]
if this continent
has a vital music genius
it is to be found
in its wild variety of fountains
The Prettiest Star - David Bowie [from Aladdin Sane]
glittered up Weimar
to be danced with hat and cane
rank after rank
of tailored trousers
and hosiered legs
That's How I Feel (alternative mix) - Sun Ra [from Languidity]
the music gathers itself together
tribal
on the road
keep
everyone on the inside
Intermezzo 3 - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 2, 1983]
razorwire sevenths
atop a tall stone wall
It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - London Symphony Orchestra [from Joy to the World]
bringing the soundstage into your own home I just hope they all got paid
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| Walla Walla, WA |
this music
is how a mind works
to the extent there is a common notion behind it all
that notion
involves tracing
where that notion
might have been
as
it lay
once
some time ago
In Case You Forgot - Aretha Franklin [from A Rose Is Still a Rose]
remarkable show-off vocal performance
Song of Solomon 3:1-4 - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle, May 17, 2005]
I do believe
this was the same take I heard last
I must have been neglectful of my records
Touch My Body - Mariah Carey [from E=Mc2]
fashion show
runway ready
Banned Rehearsal 848 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [November 25, 2013]
we swap roles easily
Neal falls into songness as into a trap
but
we lapse into a quiet thought
about notes
repetition
attracts notice
the trick
is to distract it
lead it back
into the room vibe
how tightly we can choose
to clutch
to our retracement thread
our way back
our justification
our sensible identity
Sail Away - Juicy Thompson and the Snuggle Regime [from Self Untitled Cassingle]
those guitars have heard The Ventures
an act
or a kind of
channeling?
I'm rather inclined to the former
but perhaps that's a
bias?
Arnheim - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [July 23, 2023]
The fun
is
in seeming to play by the rules
Rocky Road - Alabama Sacred Heart Singers [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
shape note time turner
at verses' ends
the articulation is brief
and without drama or
fussiness
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| Walla Walla, WA |
he seems to fumble into remarkable places
as though as surprised as we
by its path
though the distance back
is solidly known
pepper in octaves
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Crystals [from A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector]
big sound with no elbow room
On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever) - Bill Evans [from Alone]
performed at multiple sequential tempos
so that
it seems like the
endings of tune segments
should not be upon us so soon
Stratus - Billy Cobham [from Spectrum]
the dawn of the synthesizer
music's newest toy
it can make notes
go by really fast
but now it's time to get funky
So Blue - Prince [from For You]
certain amount of campy in it
Don't Be Scared - Yoko Ono [from Milk and Honey]
proverbial advice/re-assurance song
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| Walla Walla, WA |
Serenade - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded August 6, 1988]
makes excellent use of the dynamic contrast available on clavichord
I could have done a better job tuning it
oh well
an excellent performance past me
includes a second take of the canon
(aborted) (try again)
at a
somewhat brisker tempo
interrupted by cat
(start over)
I'm
getting frustrated now
{then}
I rather like the slow version now
though
relax dude
said a bad word
Middleclock - Helena Alexander [from The City Sketches]
a busy intersection from above
sped up
never the same
never
changing
Banned Rehearsal 512 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Anna K, Aaron Keyt, Neal Kosály-Meyer [October 24, 1998]
where's the pick?
we go for the big sound
bang bang bang honk
honk honk finding
a new recipe for shrill
passed by an early sonata of mine
{journal entry of November 6, 2006:
a differential
in the assertiveness
or effective assertiveness
of the rhythmic precision of the participants
from
just so
to
sloppy execution
more apparent faster
and more
cyclic
the impulse stream layers
provide complications
but
not complexity necessarily
Aaronsbundlerkazoo
ends up as rather a blast the brains out session}
Hollywood - Madonna [from American Life]
the composition of notes
is not over-cluttered
fantasy mag
spread
 |
| Walla Walla, WA |
an interesting way to explore the Chapel Event
{of that September}
from the whole
to
its parts
to
one of its parts
then
to
a part of that first part's part
A Body Like Mine - Spinning Whips [from Sentimental Groover]
rock music
as incarnated thusly
a form of performative irony
right down to the album titles
Gradus 334 - Neal Kosály-Meyer - Neal Kosály-Meyer [May 28, 2018]
blatant patterns do not appear here
a music sans blatancy
it
has more patience than most musics too
another contrarian angle at Cagean silence:
as a blatant means
to
clarify
what exactly it is
that music
as such
transgresses
just by being
I've been here so long I've forgotten how many notes are currently in play
we spiral in
our listening
is a motion through experience
a new note has snucked in
Pure Lands Pt. 1 - Ensemble Unnamable [from Fourth Floor]
an atmosphere
a mood
a vibe
a sensibility
a
color
we hear the sounds of a moving body
and so
we must not only listen
but move
Silvery Moon - Buddy Berton [from That Devilin' Tune]
a lost accent
from the lost stage
plays lots of notes
Think It Over -Buddy Holly and The Crickets [collected from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul]
soda fountain bravado
Island In The Sun - The Brothers Four [from The Brothers Four Cross Country Concert]
the romantic exotic
off in the South Pacific
or perhaps the
Caribbean
ah!
Calypso is the tell
don't worry cupcake
they sing it white
 |
| Walla Walla, WA |
the man whose fingers think faster than yours
lets 'em loose
on a Tatumesque stroll
through a tune
Steppin' in Her I. Miller Shoes - Betty Davis [from Betty Davis]
legendary character sketch
fashion spread
Ride The Music - Carole King [from Welcome Home]
feel good life
just come on in
set yourself down somewhere
Intermezzo 4 - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded September 2, 1983]
softened intervals
malleable voices
Who Is Sylvia - The King's Singers [from Chanson d'amour]
for the fastidious among us
Naughty Girl - Beyoncé [from Dangerously In Love]
dance of the fewer veils
For Anyone - Star Anna [from Go To Hell]
restless under pressure
Goodbye - Goodness from [Goodness: 1995-1998]
muttering to oneself
how to kiss off
Song of Solomon 3:1-3 (050510 final) - Keith Eisenbrey - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center, May 10, 20025]
the final sung note
doesn't need to be held to anything like full value
Day's Getting Longer - Smokestack and the Foothill Fury [from A Live Wire]
plays his kit like a steam pump
 |
| Walla Walla, WA |
Interview (beginning) - Betty Eisenbrey, Dick Eisenbrey, Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey [November 30, 2013]
on that Thanksgiving weekend
we sat down with my mom and dad
to
talk to my mom
about her memories
regarding her music career
et cetera
at that time it was clear
that her memory was beginning to fail
she started conducting the Lake Washington Singers in 1957
and the
Church Choirs of Bellevue First Methodist in 1957:
though
on
evidence of the picture that is mentioned
as being mom and my older
brother (1957)
being
I believe
of mom and me (1959)
which accords with the dates of the recordings in our archives
had the choirs at Bellevue First for 12 years
then there came a pastor
who thought that women
should have nothing to do
that wasn't
taking care of babies
making mom's leadership of the adult choir
difficult and finally untenable
Slowly, Away - Triptet [from Slowly, Away]
drifting free of any apparent gravitational center
freefall gently
abated
 |
| Gradus 385 |
the music is over there
what might be behind it
from
there
wander
where
begin at the center
listen back
from one's wanderwhereat
we plumb toward the lower ends
improvising a rung
is an
exploration of it
manifesting
its uniqueness
deep into sonorous thought
the urge
to make sense
to oneself
outs
ones self's sense
of sense
Melancholy Baby - The Dorsey Brothers [from That Devilin' Tune]
the slower introductory music
is time to ask a partner to dance
lightly bouncing across the hipbone
Spectra - Gunther Schuller - Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine
upon the wreck of expressionism
grew the barnacles of electronic sound
synthesis
soon
they engaged in a mutual imitation society
to be esoteric
in the latest fashion
residual spotlight
of the police state
like the planets
but with colors?
descriptive or depictic
this sounds
exactly
like that music
that was once
titularly described
as
agony
this
is that
modern music
seems so remarkably old-fashioned now
certainly Viennese influenced
but with its own concerns too
there appears no obvious reason
this music should continue
nor any
that it cease ever
well
OK
now we have all this new energy to deal with somehow
forensics has arrived
I Like It Like That (Part 1) - Chris Kenner [from Land of 1000 Dances]
which is the name of the place
singing with his back up buddies
Infant Eyes - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]
laid out smooth and mellow as midnight in July
Doggin' Around - Michael Jackson [from Music & Me]
wholly inappropriate in so many ways
Pointblank - Bruce Springsteen [from Live at The Roxy July 7, 1978]
all gestures enhanced with sparkles
but in the end
another blame
the woman song
big drama
build
pull back to end
all
meaningful and all
Think Too Much (b) - Paul Simon from Hearts and Bones]
finally unscramble us
In Session at The Tintinabulary
September 7, 2025
Devizes - Keith Eisenbrey
September 8, 2025
Banned Rehearsal 1133 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy, Aaron Keyt
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 27: Figure Studies 2010 (part 2)
More from a series of solo piano improvisations
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
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