Reminiscent

Terence Collie - Reminiscent

1.Ephemeral - This is a new original composition. I have been thinking about loss recently. The 6th anniversary of my father’s death and the recent loss of a beloved pet. The thought of losing others so close and imagining what life in the future would be like without one’s “nearest and dearest”. I think these feelings swelled in my subconscious when this tune was composed in January 2023.

2. And Again - I originally composed this tune in 2013 to play with my ‘Prison Break’ quartet. It has a funky ostinato bass line that I thought would be cool to try and play with my left-hand against the syncopated right-hand melody. The improvisation starts with some perpetual-motion styled single-notes that add to the tension before full-blown improvisation kicks in. This piece moves back and forth from 6/4 and 4/4 time signatures.

3. Lujon / I Thought About You - I had started to play the Jimmy Van-Heusen tune ‘I Thought About You’ as a rhumba recently, which I had re-harmonised with a minor tonality. I had heard the opening bars of Henry Mancini’s ‘Lujon’ (with its lush strings) used on a TV advert and thought, how would that ‘sound’ be played on the piano with rich block chords? I soon realised that the groove and tempo I wanted were similar for both songs, so why not play them as a medley?

4. Fauda Blues - While binge-watching the Netflix drama show ‘Fauda’ (meaning chaos in Hebrew and Arabic) at home, it reminded me to compose something with an Arabic feel as my partner of 30 years had recently asked me to as she loves that sound! I eventually got around to doing so and quickly came up with this.

5. Reminiscent - This is an older composition I had never recorded and rarely performed - a brooding minor tune with a modal feel.

6. Caravan - Always looking for a new take on standard tunes. I found myself one day playing this ‘Jackson Five’ bass line and improvising away and ended up quoting the opening melody of Caravan! My next thought was, why not play the whole tune with this feel?

7. Hubble 30 - My first lockdown composition in early 2020, written to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope. I recorded it remotely in collaboration with others. I thought it would be nice to try a solo version.

8. August - A composition written for my taking part in the Brecon Jazz Festival 2021. August is the month of the festival and the month I was born!

9. Don’t Explain - I was taken aback when asked to play at a funeral for a much-loved and well know jazz singer in our jazz community in 2018. This song was one of her signature songs that always brought the house down when she performed it. When inquiring about what to play at the funeral, the family also mentioned her love for John Coltrane and Duke Ellington, so I came up with this arrangement paying homage to Coltrane and Duke’s ‘In A Sentimental Mood’.