CD version. Inspired by Miles Davis, particularly his album On The Corner and Davis' respect and interest in the work Karlheinz Stockhausen, LaPlante wrote Wild Tapestry as a commission from Seth Knopp of Vermont's The Yellow Barn Music Festival in 2021, exploring how direct inspiration between musicians is translated into musical composition and strategy.
Program notes by Travis Laplante:
The initial spark for Wild Tapestry was lit during late April of 2021 during a conversation between Artistic Director Seth Knopp and myself regarding the relationship and mutual inspiration between two musical luminaries: Miles Davis and Karlheinz Stockhausen. More specifically, we discussed the story of Davis citing Stockhausen as a prominent influence for his 1972 recording On the Corner, and how Stockhausen records were allegedly in regular rotation at Davis’s house during the early 1970s.
Seth and I continued to speak about the beauty and mystery of how direct inspiration between musicians is translated into sound; from direct musical quotes to the intangible. This fascinating conversation led to a commission from Seth to present a composition at Yellow Barn directly inspired by the music of Miles Davis; particularly On the Corner, his work that was inspired by Stockhausen.
There were no musical agendas as to how this inspiration needed to musically translate into the piece, other than a close and conscious connection to Davis and his music. This hopefully prevents the listener from seeking to overly intellectualize the composition.
I stayed very close both to the music itself and to my emotional and spiritual responses to it while composing Wild Tapestry. This wasn’t difficult for me to do, as Davis is one of my greatest musical influences and has been since I was ten years old. Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet was the first jazz CD I ever bought (along with John Coltrane’s Blue Trane). l was so enamored by the sound that I listened to the music on repeat, even through the night while I slept. I revisited this early practice of living with a recording around the clock for several months with Davis’s On The Corner while composing Wild Tapestry, allowing for an organic response to take shape throughout my compositional process.
Wild Tapestry is one of the countless compositions that are publicly inspired by an important artist’s work. It warms my heart to actively give thanks to one of the great musical masters who has come before me and given their life to sound, reminding me that music is a tradition that has been passed from the ears of one person’s heart to the ears of another person’s heart for thousands of years.
Out Of Your Head Records | OOYH 015
Travis Laplante - saxophone
Antonina Styczen - flute
Ansel Norris - trumpet
Oliver Barrett - trombone
Steve Mackey - electric guitar
Charles Overton - harp
Marcus Elliot Gaved - acoustic bass
Eduardo Leandro - percussion
Matthew Overbay - percussion
Wild Tapestry composed by Travis Laplante
Wild Tapestry is dedicated to the muse of Miles Davis.
Recorded Live @ The Yellow Barn Music Festival, July 17th, 2021 in Putney, VT.
Recording Engineer: Julian McBrowne
Mastering Engineer: Ryan Power
Artwork + design by TJ Huff (huffart.com)
100% of the proceeds of Wild Tapestry, both from the musicians and OOYH Records, will be donated to Oceana, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans on a global scale.
