Kyle Aho - Rituals (2022) Hi Res

A collection of poetry (Edmond Jabès, Walt Whitman, Mahadeviyakka, Franz Kafka, César Vallejo, Symeon, Margaret Aho, and others) put to music with various instrumentation.

I decided on the striking and visceral text for the project a decade ago, and over time I gradually composed the music—tinkering, experimenting, expanding, and discarding concepts. The fragmented ideas began to solidify during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic shutdown. My teaching obligations at Missouri State University slowed, and for the first time in 20 years, I wasn’t gigging. Time and quiet space allowed a narrative to emerge.

Nine poems and phrases are the heart of the project, while short solo piano and instrumental pieces create a sense of balance, flow, and discovery. The music expresses a yearning for communion or spirituality, for an existence beyond the physical. Words like “Jasmine Lord,” “God,” “this mystery,” “the well,” “udder of light and sweetness,” etc. describe this experience. My mother’s poetry (Rituals, Between Wand and Welt) underscores the artist’s struggle for transcendence through creativity. This longing resonates with me in the music of (late) John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter’s various groups, Keith Jarrett’s trio and solo playing, among others.

“Awaken (Overture)” sets the tone for the recording. Left-hand clarity and right-hand ambiguity create a tension that emanates throughout. Another example of this juxtaposition is the ecstatically unhinged piano of “A Night in the Woods” soloing in contrast to a tight underlying structure. Further, albeit more subtle, is the piano’s grounded melodic fragment in “Be Still (Prelude).” While seemingly earthbound, it meanders, unfettered, to various harmonic dimensions. Fleeting arrivals occur before the motive finally settles, establishing the mood for the next track.

The musicians mostly are a collection of local Springfield, Mo. friends: Christin Bohrisch (vocals), a frequent collaborator; Randy Hamm (saxophones/flute), the director of Jazz Studies at Missouri State University; Marty Morrison (drums), a colleague at the university; Mark Brueggemann (trumpet) and Chris Mathisen (cello), both local musicians. Jeremy Allen (bass) teaches at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He is a longtime friend/collaborator whom I met while in graduate school at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Stephanie Cramer, a wonderful local artist, created the cover art: “Pier Dream”.