released February 18, 2014

Gerry Hemingway
kernelings
Auricle Records
CD AUR-12 + DVD AUR-13 (will be available on a streaming service eventually)

CD - Solo Works 1995-2012

1. Ringo 1:05
2. Hymn Away 6:07
3. Dust 1:12
4. May Bell 4:25
5. B Slow 6:18
6. Ohwoshegoshesay 2:06
7. Bluethroat 7:28
8. For Whom 5:46
9. Steel and Bass 6:44
10. Calling You 5:51
11. B Slow Again 1:54
12. Up on High 2:41
13. Snares 3:53
14. For Chick Webb 5:25
15. Slowings 2:36

Total Time 64:22

All compositions by Gerry Hemingway © 2014 Nagual Music
All solo works performed on drum set, percussion, harmonica, voice and/or live electronics.
Composed or first realized between 1995 - 2012. Recorded between 2007-9 (Plainsboro, NJ) or 2010-2012 (Luzern, CH). Steel and Bass recorded March 12, 2005, NYC, NY

All solo recordings engineered, produced and mastered by Gerry Hemingway
with the exception of “Steel and Bass” recorded by Thomas Lehn in NYC. NY

Cover Photos - Jordan Hemingway
Cover Design Artwork - Gerry Hemingway

Liner Notes

In the arena of what matters to me as an artist, the platform of solo performance is where I remain most willing to risk failure in order to touch a new possibility. The potential of musical risk also co-exists with the patient development and refinement of a language that is singular to what I am compelled to express with my instrument. Since 1974, when I first embarked on what was then a relatively uncharted domain of musical practice, most of my models for solo music were not practitioners of my instrument. Chief among them was Leo Wadada Smith, who represented a mentor in the early stages of my development. His solo performances and that of many other composer/performers in the early seventies were hugely inspiring to me. Everything seemed possible.

Different streams of output developed progressively over the years. At first multi-instrumentalism attracted me, as it was clear that as a percussionist I had many ways to explore color as a central aspect of my music. Partially for practical reasons I reduced this expansive palette of instruments by authoring my own library of extended techniques, limiting my instrumental choices to a basic drum set and a few small metal and wood objects that I could combine with my drum set. Eventually I added various forms of electro-acoustic elements, ranging from tape (pre-ordained material), to live processing to midi-controlled sampling.

This solo release took a lot longer than I expected to complete. The four prior solo releases (Solo Works 1982, Tubworks 1988, Acoustic Solo Works 1995, Electro-Acoustic Solo Works 1995), were aligned with what was current in my thinking in those years and I have occasionally returned to these earlier works in recent performance as well as teaching practice. They were, generally speaking, quite often shaped in great detail by my formal tendencies as a composer. In more recent years I have leaned more to my instincts as an improviser in solo performance. The process of developing this material was largely born of spontaneous invention, sometimes fine tuned through repeated attempts (the present day composer in me also refuses to die). I recorded much of this material many times, both in performance and in my own home studio environment, arriving here and there with musical places that felt complete. Perhaps its the natural distillation of the underlying content of whatever I am trying to express, the “melody” so to speak. As you will hear I tended towards simpler and simpler material through which my musical identity becomes more transparent. I am interested what you think in that regard.


the remainder of the notes regard the DVD (AUR-13)