The Trance Horn World

Next on the jazz shelf are a pair of cd mp3 collections built around the work of flautist Paul Horn. He became a pioneer of world and new age music with his 1969 album Inside. But the ‘roots’ of that go back to a couple of earlier lps: Jazz Suite on The Mass Texts, Here’s That Rainy Day. On Texts he works with orchestra & choir & on Rainy Day he works with rain effects.

I remember when Inside The Taj Mahal was released & all my pot-head buddies where into the echo soothing meditativeness of it. Inside 2 is more of the same. Both are timeless & meditative.

George Winston is new age, meditative piano player I was introduced to when I facilitated a meditation healing circle for ACT. I have Winter, Winter Into Spring – instrumental music that lulls, ripples with touches of classical & very subtle jazz. I was also introduced to (& have) Suzanne Ciani: Seven Waves, Neverland, History of My Heart; Kitaro: Silk Road I, II; G.E.N.E. Grooving Electronic Natural Environments: Fluting Paradise. Ciani’s electronic work has an element of deliberate design using various sound frequencies to create mood. GENE weaving rippling brooks & sound frequencies.

For a time I was a weekend- warrior learning about medicine wheels & Native spiritual beliefs. Here I heard R. Carlos Nakai a Navajo/Ute who plays Native American cedar. On Earth Spirit there are original compositions for the flute inspired by traditional Native American melodies.

In this collection is also Hamza El Din’s Escalay: The Water Wheel which recognized as one of the first world music recordings to gain wide release in the West. He is Egyptian and plays the oud. A friend had me transfer his lp version to cd & I kept a copy, which I later upgraded, via iTunes, for better sound quality. Worth seeking out.

Also from that neck of the woods (or is that sands?) comes Bustan Abraham: Fanar – a sweet concoction of Arab music, Turkish music, jazz, flamenco, western classical music, and blues from an Israeli band. Finally a selection of Hussain Khan from Radio India, shared with me by a friend – this is harmonium, sitar, tabla & chanting that transports one to another world.

Parenting

Kayla found the bones in the backyard. We had been getting ready for planting a garden for the kids. She and her bother Dall weren’t all that eager to watch things grow but I figured it would be a good experience for them. Being a step-dad wasn’t a dream come true mind you but I was willing to do what it would take to make it work.

I figured digging and planting things together would be a good bonding experience for us.

Kayla called to me. “Jake … Jake ….”

The fear in her voice gabbed me by the heart. I rushed over.

She pointed her trowel at the shattered bone.

I hunched down to get a closer look.

Dall came over to join me. He pushed at the bone with a finger.

“Don’t touch it.” I pulled his hand away.

“What is it?” Kayla began to tear up.

“Probably a cat or a squirrel. Too small to be anything else.”

I gently pushed the dirt from around the bones to see how many there were. I could tell it was some small animal.

“What’s going on.” John had come out of the house.

I stood a bit to quickly & was dizzy for a moment. He steadied me.

“Kayla found a dead body.” Dall pointed at the bones. “Looks like a dead baby.”

He looked at Kayla hoping for a reaction.

“Looks like you.” She retorted.

“I’m not dead.”

“That’s what you think.”

“Probably just a cat that the last owner buried here when it died. See …” I hunched down again. “There’s fur in the ground around it.”

John took the kids into the house while I dug out the bones. I wasn’t sure what to do next. Bag them for recycling? Put them in composter? Bury them somewhere else in the yard?

I had a lot to learn about being a parent.