Josh Johnston Composes Lovely Melodies And Then Adds Improvization

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Irish musician Josh Johnston likes to play piano at night in the dark. Much of the material on his new solo piano album, The Shape of Things, was either recorded with the lights out, or experimented with earlier sans lighting. "It is just the best way for me to be creative and let the music break free unobstructed, " explains Johnston. "I actually play much better in the dark. It takes more concentration and there are absolutely no distractions. I feel like I am in a meditative trance. I am totally communing with the music. I also find it very relaxing. The perfect method for me is to take a theme I have established and then get as creative as possible improvising around it."

Josh Johnston's music can be purchased as a CD or digital download on-line at sales sites including CDbaby and Amazon. More information about Johnston and sound samples are available at his website (www.joshjohnston.com). The album is on Shandon Records based in Ireland.

"The title of the album, The Shape of Things, is just me saying let's look at all the things that matter - ourselves, our relationships with other people, and the world at large. I feel the world is in a new and strange place right now, and everyone is a bit confused as to what is going on with politics, the economy, the environment, the future, you name it. So you may hear some sense of weariness and melancholy in this music, but I believe you will find it to be relaxing and uplifting as well. I hope it serves as a tonic for tough times."

The album was recorded in one day on a Steinway grand piano in the sanctuary of St. Peter's Church of Ireland (built in the early 1800s) in the country town of Drogheda, about two-hours north of where Johnston lives in Dublin. Although the CD resembles a live recording, there was no audience except his distinguished recording engineer Brian Masterson (Chieftains, Luka Bloom, Bill Whelan and many other top Irish acts). During the ten-hour session, Johnston played each tune once or twice, and later there was no overdubbing, editing or combining of takes. As evening came on, he had the lights turned off for the last half of the session. Every melody on The Shape of Things was composed in advance (a few were even written ten years ago), but during the recording session Johnston improvised on each tune. The music was recorded in the middle of winter when Ireland had been lashed with rain, snow and ice for many weeks, and Johnston remembers "it was freezing cold outside, very icy on the roads, so the environment affected my state of mind and my playing."

Because the recording is solo piano, it will have appeal in the new age and neo-classical music marketplace, but there are other styles incorporated as well. The improvisational elements give it a feeling of jazz (Johnston also has recorded jazz). Many listeners will hear hints of folk and pop because Johnston has a long history playing these genres (his first two solo albums were singer-songwriter folk-pop productions). In addition, Johnston's composing and playing has a subtle flavor of Ireland ("There often are distinct traditional Irish harmonies in what I play."). Within the music another undercurrent is the church. Not only was the album recorded in a church (you can hear a spaciousness around the piano sound), Johnston spent many years playing organ and piano in churches. "Late at night after organ practice, I would often turn out the lights, switch to piano and spend another hour or two improvising, so it is a setting I feel very relaxed and comfortable in." Upon the release of The Shape of Things, Johnston unveiled the music to the public with a tour of Ireland and England performing the material in special shows set up in Unitarian churches. Johnston's future plans include a tour of the United States during the summer of 2011.

Scattered throughout The Shape of Things are five tunes that Johnston has been improvising on late at night in the dark for the past decade - "Peace (Nightsong 1), " "Nightsong 2, " "Nightsong 3, " "Nightsong 4" and "A Light in the Dark of Night." The latter was inspired by solo-piano improvisational-jazz-master Keith Jarrett. "I could do take-offs on this riff for hours at a time, " according to Johnston. "It starts with these dense, low, grumbley chords with a lot of notes which represent the darkness, but then I move to some higher notes to bring in the light. When I play piano in the dark, the music serves as a light, a comforting beacon for me."

Two tunes - "Peace (Nightsong 1)" and "Guest" - were written by Johnston as the soundtrack to an acclaimed silent Irish film ("Guests of the Nation") his grandfather wrote and directed in the mid-1930s based on a short story by Frank O'Connor (one of Ireland's most acclaimed authors). During the past decade the film has been shown throughout Ireland as well as in England, France and the Czeck Republic with Josh performing live a largely-improvised piano accompaniment eventually refined to include these two themes.

Regarding the tune "Missed Her On The Road, " Johnston says, "It is strange to think about all the people you just miss meeting in your life for various reasons, even something as simple as one day you turn left instead of right." Two other tunes are inspired by relationships. The piece "FVX" grew out of a "happy friendship" while the musically-intense "Saving a Life" is about "when sometimes two people's paths cross, someone is helped and their life is changed."

Johnston originally wrote "Atlantic" for an ensemble to perform, but plays it here for the first time as a solo piece. Another composition that changed is "Asylum Harbour, " which was the title song on Johnston's last album, but appears here without lyrics. He also does an instrumental version of another vocal tune, "The Late Train, " written by Irish folk-singer, songwriter and guitarist Roesy whom Josh toured and recorded with for seven years. The album's other outside contribution is "Cimiez, " penned by violinist David MacKenzie, whom Johnston has written, recorded and toured with the past few years (they have two instrumental swing-jazz CDs – A Minor Happiness and Notes Home).

Josh's interest in music began at age four when he started "banging away" on the piano and listening to his four older siblings' records ranging from The Beatles to Mozart. Josh began formal piano lessons when he was nine, and as a teenager he attended a school that had a reputation for doing stage plays and musicals, so he found himself often called upon to provide music for theatre productions, either as part of the orchestra or alone on piano.

Johnston earned a BA honors degree in popular music and recording from the University of Salford in England, the only degree course of its kind in Europe at that time. During college he led a progressive-rock band (Second Nature), but also immersed himself in a wide range of pop and jazz. “In the pop-rock world I have been influenced at various stages by The Beatles, Billy Joel, early Elton John, Steely Dan, Alan Parsons Project, Bruce Hornsby, Dave Matthews Band, Ben Folds Five, Moxy Fruvous and Elbow, and in jazz by Keith Jarrett, Dave Brubeck and Stan Getz.” In addition to working with Rosey, Josh also has appeared on-stage and on recordings by Kila (rocking world music), Declan O’Rourke (folk-pop), Karl Scully (an operatic tenor), Ronan Swift (pop-rock), SJ McArdle (alternative rock), Stewart Agnew (alt-country) and Peadar King (alternative pop-rock). Besides Josh’s recordings with the MacKenzie-Johnston Band, the pianist has two previous eclectic pop-rock-jazz-folk albums under his own name -- Three Friends and Asylum Harbour -- both featuring some original material, several instrumentals, and songs with vocals by Josh or special guests. Johnston also serves as the director of a nine-person choral group The Iveagh Singers.

“Instrumental music is about what the listener needs to hear as much as what I need to say, ” explains Johnston. “I want the music to be enjoyable and entertaining, but also contemplative and comforting. Sometimes people ask me why I enjoy playing the piano in the dark, and I tell them I can really let the music go wherever it wants without constrictions or forcing it into particular directions. This freedom is exhilarating. After I turn out the lights, I may stumble over something getting from the light-switch to the piano bench. But once I sit down at the piano I never have any problem finding the right keys to play.”

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