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Brooklyn Sonata

by James Hegarty

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1.
Brooklyn Sonata Part 1 10:32
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2.
Brooklyn Sonata Part 2 05:09
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3.
Brooklyn Sonata Part 3 04:56
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about

I do not pretend to know any place completely. Places change. But I am an observer. A careful observer, I like to think. Which is why I feel a tangible presence of place in nearly all the music I make. My music reflects observations, experiences, and yes, impressions of specific contexts - places and people.

These performance were recorded in the summer of 2017 as an addendum to the System Two session for my Crossroad trio album.

So why take nearly 6 years to release these recordings?

It has something to do with knowing and not knowing place. Since 1980, New York and Brooklyn have been frequent destinations of mine. A span of time long enough to realize that everything is moving, changing, evolving. It is tempting to say everything changes, but really a lot doesn't change, I just happen to notice the changes, they stand out. Hence the uncertainty, the awareness of the uncertainty of knowing.

I listen to this recording now and hear my thoughts speaking to me from the distance. Was it really that long ago? Has everything changed so very much? I hear different thoughts, different sounds, different moves. I hear myself unquestioning. Not exactly confident , but a kind of peacefulness, a feeling of relative stability, at least.

Perhaps it is a recognition that music transcends time and place even when it seems so inextricably rooted in context. Maybe over time, the music transcends the thoughts and experiences of that moment and becomes a more pure statement, unencumbered by context, unlimited by references. Maybe sometimes, the music itself, without the baggage of tangible knowing, has more meaning, more value, in the future.

credits

released March 16, 2023

James Hegarty, piano and producer
Max Ross, recording engineer
Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Jonathan Palmer, executive producer

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