i'm going to lock you in my pocket
Thesis work choreographed by Gina T'ai, performed by Kraig Patterson/bopi and Gina T'ai. Performed at the American Dance Festival July 19, 2008. Music by Michael Wall.

"I really enjoyed working on this piece with Gina. We only had a short amount of time and limited resources to get this going. I think it came out great. Gina performed this a few weeks later, but the piece was much longer. It was fun to take a piece and "stretch" it out another 7 minutes." - Michael Wall

fall 2008

asimplesound is gearing up for a new year after a great summer of dance festivals. over the next few months we will be adding more musicians and lots of music for modern, ballet, improvisation and choreography. if you are looking for new music to use in your dance classes this fall, take a listen to our large library of original compositions arranged by tempo and meter... all created for dance. enjoy.

two traditions
by jim roberts

this instrumental cd is a unique blend of both folk and drum traditions. it is characterized by steady percussive rhythm coupled with contemporary fiddle music. music is a high-quality live recording. expect high-energy to slow and moody. pieces range from one to five minutes. orchestrations range from full band to solo. this disc features the horse flies from ithaca, ny and friends. originally released in 1999, this disc features a sometimes wild, sometimes moody combination of old time string band instruments and array of hand drums and other percussion from the traditions of west africa and cuba. the result is music ancient and new, primitive and beautiful. in july of 1996, the horse flies played a fiddle music set in the dance tent. with their drummer, taki masuko, and percussionists, jim roberts and nery arevalo, they created an experience that was sort of a large wall of fiddle-music voodoo.

you can now find this album in the asimplesound.com main library

waka waka

jim roberts

infectious american-african world music featuring south african singer/bassist, paul petersen. blending the melodies from africa with the rhythms of the carribean and us. these pieces are high-energy, rhythm based with strong ethnic pop melodies and harmony. styles range from afropop to traditional. tempos range from moderate to fast and times range from three to five minutes. of special interest: instrumental drum piece called drum art. also an instrumental afro smooth jazz piece called jol uit.

you can now find this record in the asimplesound.com main library

ancient hand

by jim roberts

this is a rhythm based work with many different types of colors and timbres. melody by seven different vocalists. times range from four to 7 minutes. most tempos are moderate to slow. ancient hand was the first solo recording by percussionist, producer, jim roberts, released in 1998. it is mood-driven music that features experimental use of rhythm instruments such as west african balaphon, banjo uke, djembe, trash snare, conga kit, log drums, strum stick, embira, water gourds, paddle drums, trash bells and big bass tubs. rhythmic and harmonic instruments create poetic mantras for 7 different vocalists, ranging from lofty, cuban inspired "yemaya" to the dark moody "wait for me" sung by horse fly singer, jeff claus. The cd features a number of prominent nashville and ithaca, ny musicians including beth nielsen chapmen, victor wooten, members of the horse flies, the burns sisters, and essra mohawk.

you can now find this record in the asimplesound.com mail library

pendulum
by robert kaplan

from ambient textures to new contemporary music to rock-tinged improvisatory realms, these six tracks mix electronics with acoustic instruments creating evocative aural soundscapes that move freely between rhythmic grooves and kinetic stillness. in addition to rk, this cd features john ettinger-midi violin, michael hester-alto saxophone, david karagianis-loop grooves, devorah segal-vocals, j.b. smith-drums, and david torn-loops/textural devices.

you can now find this record in the asimplesound.com main library

now and then
by robert kaplan

a collection of ten works created primarily for dance over a 25-year span (1979-2004). the four most recent tracks were experiments in the initial release of garage band. additional performers include david torn, jodi gilbert, devorah segal, marta jasberg, skip laplante, and david karagianis. this cd is dedicated to the late choreographer/dancer/visual artist, mel wong, for whom i composed over 30 pieces.

you can now find this record in the asimplesound.com main library

Yesterdays Wedding

MamLuft&Co.Dance

music by michael wall

Modern Dance Environments II

from Norman Beede

"mde 2 differs from mde 1. while keeping the concept of long cuts we enjoyed setting or composing more of the pieces on mde 2. chords, number of bars per section and entrances were more likely to be set before recording. tempos stay the same throughout the tracks just like mde 1 but there are more distinct sections with improvisation set apart from the rest of the ensemble similar to a jazz or rock tune as opposed to it being the essence of the piece as on many of the mde 1 tracks. almost all of the compositions on mde 2 were written and performed live in dance concerts before being recorded. there are more musicians added to our ensemble as well. steve grom: 12 string guitar, electric guitar and composer (seascape), bob mehren: guitars, bob ose: tom toms, bass drum, percussion, percussion toys, treble trombone and conga. also kenny sawhill appears on "music for slit drum" on bass trombone and bass synth and rolan tripp plays the slit drum. i have to mention geoff cooper who was involved in the recording of both mde cd's. geoff was sound man at nbc-tv channel 4 in burbank and ran dbcoopers (vinyl) . recording credits also go to craig kupka and bob ose. all tracks were originally recorded on a teac four track between 1980 and 1983 and originally offered in vinyl."

You can now find this record in the asimplesound.com main library

norman beede's -

modern dance environments

"craig kupka and myself, norman beede approached this album with the concept that most modern dance teachers would prefer long cuts that could be left on for warm up, across the floor or even for an environment for improvisation. most of the tracks on this cd are from 9 to 13 minutes long. we also attempted to create music that we would like to listen to and could be used for choreography assignments or in concert. two of the cuts were originally performed live as music for local dance companies in southern california. mde 1 has a lot of acoustic material book-ended by a synth track at the top for slow movement and a short, swift all synth piece at the end. the musicians on this CD are norman beede: piano, keyboards and percussion, craig kupka: percussion and trombone, kenny sawhill: bass guitar and percussion and roland tripp: vibes, marimba, bells, traps and percussion." - norman

you can now find this record in the
asimplesound.com main library.