artist Alan Darragh

Alan Darragh, a young poet, composer and jazz pianist, is a natural improviser with an instinctive relaxed feel.  For this twenty-three year old, there is no other way.   He sits at his piano, his large hands covering an eleventh on the keyboard. While his emotions wrestle with the inconveniences of life, his intellect roams free creating song after song. Alan writes: "Only I know what I'm going to do next.  But until I do it, even I don't know what it will be.  Musical improvisation is like getting up on the stage at a writers convention and writing a novel on the spot. Nothing is predetermined.  When I sit down to play I don't think - today, I'm going to play six hundred key changes or just one tone center.  What I play is what comes out that day.  Although it's not a conscious decision, by not trying to cover too many keys, it allows me to concentrate on the song and less on the 'music.'  But I am a glutton for chords.  They give music a soul -"

Alan works with drummer, Adam David, out of Despot Studio, his home studio in Toronto.  He says, "I wanted a "rhythmically open concept" drumming style. What that really means is that I wanted the drummer to be able to read my mind!!! The objective was to produce instrumental music that was melodious, rhythmically stimulating and innovative, without being restrictive for either of us. Adam was so quick to catch the changes in rhythm that sometimes I felt he could read my mind."

Adam David is one of those musicians who can think - and play - outside of the box. His father, Harold Ginsberg, was a drummer and David grew up with drums and drumsticks. Drumming is as natural to him as talking. Although the majority of his professional and studio work is in mainstream jazz, he quickly adapted to Alan's style. Each drumbeat, each stroke falls on the heel of each note, each chord milliseconds after Alan plays it on the piano.  The effect is breath taking and natural.

Alan released his first CD in 2007.  Three more followed in 2008.  With the exception of a number of tracks on the first CD, it's all original improvisations, recorded live. There's no overdubbing, editing or extra tracks added in postproduction.

It's calculated randomness.  It's creative randomness. It's artistic randomness.  There is a constant state of non-resolution.  The whole time the mind is searching for the pattern.  The dissonance is totally contemporary.