Out Of The Woods

“Out of the Woods”, recorded over the past three years on a magnificent Steinway piano in a historic auditorium, features original compositions ranging back to 1976 as well as spontaneous improvisations and one cover song. Kevin Zoernig has not released any solo piano recordings since “Double Echo” (1993). He has recently embarked on a return to solo piano performance starting with shows in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas, NM. The project of making his previous releases more widely available is underway.

Notes on Tracks for “Out of the Woods”

1. The Woods: This improvisation, spurred by engineer Quintin Leger (“get it out of your system!”), and titled by engineer Bill Palmer (“the woods are actually a very intense, complicated, and potentially scary place!”), draws on Zoernig’s background as a student of avant-garde musicians like Milford Graves, and Bill Dixon. He has also had a personal connection to piano improvisers Andrew Hill and Cecil Taylor but this piece could possibly be heard as reflecting influences like Prokofiev or Ginastera!

2. Sedalia: A 1990 composition. Zoernig’s father, who passed away that year, grew up in Sedalia, Missouri where Kevin and his siblings spent time each summer (they grew up in Sioux City, Iowa). Sedalia is only a few miles from Boone’s Lick, the starting point of the Old Santa Fe Trail, along which Zoernig’s activities have been concentrated since 1983. Emotions around these threads combine in a romantic elegy.

3. Temporarily Romantic: Though improvised, this piece gradually hones in on an elusive melodic theme that never quite reaches fruition. It may mature into a fully-realized composition at some point!

4. Fantastic Garlands: In 1990 Zoernig was invited by (longtime collaborator)director Ellen Mease to create music for a production of Hamlet at Grinnell College, his alma mater. Rather than the usual incidental music, she wanted a soundtrack such as you might hear in a movie. This piece, formally composed and notated, served as the backdrop for Hamlet’s monologue describing the demise of Ophelia floating in a pond among beautiful (yet strangely ominous) flowers.

5.Sandhill Waltz: Composed in 1976 (Zoernig was 18), the harmonic terrain of this haunting piece reflects initial exposure to composers like Annette Peacock and Carla Bley as revealed through Paul Bley’s solo piano album “Open, to Love”. The title refers to the Sandhills of Nebraska, where the historic White Horse Ranch and its proprietor Ruth Thompson (see cover painting) had a profound influence on Zoernig’s artistic and philosophical principles.

6.El Porvenir: “The Future” – a poignant name for a little mountain village where, in 1987, Zoernig joined his girlfriend’s grieving family in burying Chama Ruiz. This piece, also included in the 1993 solo album “Double Echo”, appears here in a new recording with more space and less urgency. It’s a hopeful reflection on “the afterworld” but the restless modulations cloud eventual resolution.

7. Considering Flight: Another free improvisation, this one repeatedly strives upward, searching for something which is never found – unless it’s the swirling, hypnotic overtones of the Steinway piano.

8. I Had Myself a True Love (Arlen/Mercer): Harold Arlen, like George Gershwin, sometimes injected classic American song form with a blues chaser, illuminating emotions unexplored by more saccharine songwriters. Mercer’s lyric is raw and heart-rending. This instrumental version features a rhythmic and harmonic adaptation striving to infuse the song with the impact of the (unsung) lyric.

9. Creepin’: The shifty, whimsical, slightly unhinged groove of this improvisation prompted engineer Bill Palmer to suggest the title. Listening in the studio while editing and mastering, Kevin and Bill developed a mental video of the person this song might be describing. You might have met him! (or her).

10. Rocket Number Ten. Though Sun Ra’s “Rocket Number Nine” needs no sequel, this improvisation could describe what it’s like to be on the way to Venus!

11. Shirley Lou:(1986) This composition has been performed as arranged for string quartet and for a chamber jazz ensemble but never recorded as a solo piano piece. Harmonically it might reflect a Wayne Shorter influence. It’s a musical portrait of a loving, quirky, passionate person, Zoernig’s mother, who passed away in 2013 3 days before this version was recorded.

12. A Kiss Away From Fear: “Composed” in an adobe cabin near Guadalupita, NM in 1990, this piece literally streamed in from the ether. Partly due to its technical difficulty, “Kiss Away” has only recently returned to Zoernig’s repertoire in the context of a series of house concerts sponsored by historian Malcolm Ebright who still lives across the meadow from that cabin. Here the subtext is just plain Giving Up on jealousy, and the freedom that comes from celebrating another person’s happiness even thought they’re happier without you. Recent audience members have requested sheet music which, as they say, is “in the pipeline”.

13. Shangri-La: A closing improvisation, this tune ultimately coheres into a simple blues theme which could bear much further exploration. It reflects Zoernig’s appreciation of Mal Waldron (Mingus pianist and Billy Holiday accompanist), especially his solo album “Blues for Lady Day”. Zoernig’s formative teacher Nadi Qamar (Spalding Givens) played with Mingus and also with Nina Simone, and Zoernig himself has served as accompanist for many powerful musical women, including Rita Coolidge, Ferron, Chris Calloway, and many female New Mexico songwriters. Like Mal and Nadi, he may have learned something about cutting to the chase and…sometimes simple is best.