The Pieces

Confluence 5:30

(David): This title piece started as a free-form improvisation between me and Benjy on Celtic harp and tablas. I have long loved rhythms in 9/8 time (counted: 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3, 1-2). So this seemed like a natural. I’m also enamored with the mixolydian mode (a major scale with a minor 7th) so this and a number of the other pieces on the album employ it. I find it the most magical of all the modes, perhaps because the overtone series on every string implies it (high harmonics include a major 3rd and minor 7th ) Much Celtic music, not to mention blues uses that mode.

We decided on the note C as the tonic for the piece because some of Benjy’s tablas really sing in C, C-mixolydian is how I tune my harp when I’m not engaging any sharping levers and because we had Richard Russell’s sarode (a 25-string fretless lute) in mind and it really hits the sweet spot on his instrument. Sean Frenette then added a bass line which added a bit of new harmonic direction and dimension to build on. Michael Mandrell’s guitar brought depth, rhythmic support and a kind of crystalline presence.

Most of the melodic content was then thoughtfully added over that. The sarode is the bold, plucked melodic instrument, Benjy’s esraj is the sweet, exotic bowed instrument and Nancy Rumbel brought it all home with her soaring oboe lines.

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer/Russell)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas, esraj, drums & drum programming, keyboards, sanza, cajón
  • Richard Russell: Sarode
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar
  • Sean Frenette: Bass

Mirage 4:57

(David): This began as one of the improvisations on the first day that Benjy, Nancy and I ever played music together. I have long enjoyed Middle Eastern music and especially World Fusion variations of it. (I once played a Greek bouzouki in a belly dance troupe that did eclectic versions of Lebanese pop tunes.) I tuned my harp to a favorite “gypsy minor” scale, Benjy launched into a Middle-Eastern rhythm on tablas and Nancy’s English horn instantly created visions of being at some desert oasis replete with caravans, exotic aromas and colorful belly dancers.

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer)

  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas
  • Nancy Rumbel: Native flute, English horn
  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar

Daybreak 5:54

(David): This was another entirely improvised piece the trio came up with on the first day we ever played together. We all love the mixolydian mode and decided to try something in 7/8 time (counted: 1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2). Right from the gate, Nancy started spinning out these bright and highly evocative melodies on her oboe which inspired some playful harp lines and some incredible tabla rhythmic variations. There are probably enough strong themes in this one piece to have been developed into several tunes. So much inventive material all packed into under six minutes!

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp, zither
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar

Incantation 1:32

(David): This piece highlights the depth and low-end richness of my 38-string bubinga wood Celtic harp. It’s the “Eclipse” model made by Triplett Harps and is my pride and joy. With over five octaves, it goes down to an A note (below the lowest C note on a cello). Some of the low tones can be felt in the stomach as well as heard through the ears! Nancy’s oboe is the perfect compliment.

(Michael/Rumbel)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe

Sea Star 5:30

(David): I had been kicking around this chord progression for a year or so and loved the forward motion of it but it never really had the melodic component to make it feel complete until Nancy put her English horn to the task. And with bassoon maestro, Mark Eubanks (recently retired from 1st chair in the Oregon Symphony) joining her in this kind of dance of the double-reeds, the piece totally came to life. Michael Mandrell’s tasty guitar licks and interplay with the harp add to the richness.

(Michael/Rumbel/Wertheimer)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe
  • Mark Eubanks: Bassoon

Silver and Gold 7:40

(David): Named as such to honor “new friends/old friends.” My first time playing with Nancy Rumbel happened in 2017 at the home of my long-time friend, Richard Russell, whose sarode playing is featured on this piece. Close friend and tabla maestro, Benjy Wertheimer and I have been collaborating for around 40 years. But Benjy and Nancy had never played together until this project was actually underway, thanks to our beloved benefactor, Kim Borgatta, who envisioned this particular ensemble together. I love how this piece moves from a sensuous sarode solo to a fast-paced jubilee of drums underpinning improvisational melodic tradeoffs of oboe, sarode and harp.

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer/Russell)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp, zither
  • Richard Russell: Sarode
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas, djembe, tamboura, cajón, assorted percussion
  • Nancy Rumbel: English horn

Elixir 8:15

(David): I musically quoted myself quite a bit here. Some of the themes are recycled from earlier harp pieces: Flight of the Magicians; Return of the Magicians; The Long Dance Home and Magic Carpet. It has been developing and morphing for years and making it into a duet with Nancy transformed it to a whole new level. The first time we ever performed live together, it felt pretty close to perfect and had a lot to do with why Kim decided we just had to make this album—so of course we wanted to include this piece.

(Michael/Rumbel)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe

Falling Leaves 6:00

(David): This began as another of my harp sketches that had yet to settle into a finished piece so I thought it fitting to present it to the ensemble. I had been composing it in the autumn, imagining a warm, fragrant, breezy day with fall colors and birds flitting about. There could be no better accompaniment than Nancy’s bird-like ocarina chirpings. And her English horn themes really brought it all home.

(Michael/Rumbel/Wertheimer)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Nancy Rumbel: Alto ocarina, English horn
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas

Saraswati’s Grace 8:48

(David): This piece is what was recorded in the very first moments Benjy, Nancy and I played together as a trio. Take #1, no less! We were set up in Benjy’s Portland studio, together in one room—no baffles separating our sound—and were about to find out if we could basically, well, pull an album’s worth of material out of thin air. For no particular reason, I started flipping the tuning levers on my harp into some spicy tuning which I had in fact never before employed and arrived at a tuning that is basically half major and half Gypsy Minor. “Ah, that’s Nat Bhairav.” says Benjy (who is well versed in the classical music of North India.) “Says I, “Well Benjy, if it’s not Bhairav, then what is it? “No David, it’s NAT BHAIRAV!” So we began improvising in that scale and what emerged was truly serendipitous. The Celtic harp, tablas and oboe created beautiful sonorities on the first try—thanks also to the decades of practice all three of us have with deep listening during free-form improvisations. The only thing that we could imagine adding was bansuri (bamboo) flute by the incomparable Steve Gorn, who of course is very experienced playing in the Nat Bhairav scale. So we invited him to set the mood with a solo intro and weave a tapestry through any open spaces he could hear in the body of the piece.

The name comes from the Hindu goddess of music, Saraswati with her many arms for playing multiple instruments at the same time. Nancy was staring at a lovely statue of her while we improvised this music—so it’s almost as if she had a hand in it.

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer/Gorn)

  • Steve Gorn: Bansuri flute
  • David Michael: Celtic harp, zither
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas, tamboura

Taking Wing 5:10

(David): This is another free-form improvisation featuring Richard Russell on sarode having a joyful musical dialog with Nancy on ocarina. Naming this tune was easy. I can’t hear Nancy’s ocarina without thinking of birds. An avid birder, Nancy is also well known for composing the theme song for the syndicated radio show Birdnote heard by over 2 million listeners daily. (She was also a founding board member. Check out BirdNote.org)

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer)

  • Nancy Rumbel: Tenor ocarina
  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas, cajón
  • Richard Russell: Sarode

Bobo’s Farewell 5:04

(David): Named for a gorilla in Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo when I was a kid, the name popped in my head after we got Mark Eubanks to add both bassoon and contrabassoon (which Mark calls a “farting bedpost.”) For some reason, his part made me think of a gorilla lumbering about. Benjy, Nancy and I couldn’t stop cracking up while mixing this. Every time Bobo entered the room, Nancy would let out a cackle and we all laughed until we cried. Every album needs a little subtle humor, no? At least most of my fans know that I have often included a bit in my productions.

The impetus for the piece was from a Swedish polska I was fooling around with, except I slowed it down, modified the scale and took it in completely new directions. With Nancy creating oboe melodies and Benjy on piano, it started to sound rather like Klezmer music. Then with bassoon, it was transformed once again to something resembling a three-ring circus with Bobo as the star of the show!

(Michael/Rumbel/Wertheimer/Eubanks)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp
  • Nancy Rumbel: Oboe
  • Mark Eubanks: Bassoon, contrabassoon
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas, piano, assorted percussion
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar

Kim’s Tango 6:18

(David): This is another piece that Nancy, Benjy and I improvised on that first day we ever played together as a trio. Nancy suggested jamming on English horn with a tango rhythm and voila! Once again, we conjured themes out of thin air. Then Nancy heard some harmonies which she wanted to fill in. What could be better than an English horn? Two English horns! We decided to honor our benefactor, Kim by naming it for her. She has a background in both dance and music so it seemed like a fitting title.

(Rumbel/Michael/Wertheimer)

  • David Michael: Celtic harp, zither
  • Benjy Wertheimer: Tablas
  • Nancy Rumbel: English horn
  • Michael Mandrell: Guitar

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