Some may question releasing a book/CD package in the digital
age. Given that composers naturally want other musicians to perform their
works, and considering how-from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Thelonious
Monk-composers' performances of their own works have often been revealing,
insightful, and enjoyable, Hatfield has chosen this format for his latest
release. Although the book and CD are sold together, fans can also purchase the
CD separately, exclusively at www.kenhatfield.com
While Ken is best known as a jazz musician, his choice of
the classical guitar as his primary instrument and his many compositional
commissions have found him with a foot frequently planted in the classical
world. This dual musical personality has become a prominent enough feature of
Hatfield's recent compositional work that some now associate him with the Third
Stream musical movement championed by the late Gunther Schuller. In many respects
12 Preludes for Solo Guitar is as much an embodiment of this musical dual
citizenship as it is a reflection of the guitar's unique harmonic capacities in
a solo acoustic context.
Preludes are one of the earliest examples of a style or form
developed specifically for instrumental music. Historically, they have served
as introductions, at least until Chopin began writing stand-alone preludes. In
their stand-alone capacity, Ken's preludes belong to Chopin's tradition.
There is a long established practice of improvising
preludes. Classical musicians of earlier eras routinely improvised preludes as
introductions to larger movements or pieces, just as many jazz musicians today
improvise introductions to the standards that make up a large part of their repertoire.
Hatfield's preludes are designed to use these traditions as a springboard to
explore harmonic ideas and relationships, as well as techniques and the
sonorities of the nylon string guitar, while investigating a variety of styles
and forms ranging from Baroque (Prelude 3), to Samba in 3 (Prelude 6), to
blues-based forms and content (Prelude 4), to rhapsodic serenades (Prelude 11),
to modern uses of dissonance and odd meters (Prelude 9). The results will
enchant both player and listener.
Besides their pedagogical value, these preludes also reflect
an ongoing concern that Hatfield has addressed in much of his recent
compositional work-the nexus between the through composed and the improvised,
and how any distinction between the two is perceived by one listening to a
recorded performance. While at one level such concerns are about process, it is
through such explorations of process that these preludes came into existence.
Some of them feel like improvisations, while others feel like recited works. It
is in the places where these approaches reveal themselves to be far less
divergent than is often assumed, that the inspiration for these marvelous
musical gems originated.
Sometimes tragedy can be the impetus for creative catharsis.
Many in the guitar world, including Ken, were shocked and saddened by the
untimely passing of world-renowned luthier Thomas Humphrey in 2008. In some
very real ways, the remarkable 1991 Humphrey Millennium guitar that Ken plays
on the recording of these preludes inspired their creation as a testament to
the genius of his late friend.
Many things are required to create a musical project like
this one. Everything from inspiration to hard work to the application of skills
and knowledge must come together. Yet in the final analysis the music must
speak for itself. Any and all who listen attentively will find that these 12
Preludes speak as eloquently of life and love as they do of joy and loss.
Ken Hatfield''s compositional experience covers a wide range
of styles and instrumentations. In addition to composing jazz works for his own
ensembles, he has written chamber pieces that range from solo classical guitar
to mixed ensembles of various sizes. He has composed choral works and ballet
scores, including commissioned works for Judith Jamison, the Washington Ballet
Company, and the Maurice Béjart Ballet Company. And he has written scores for
television and film, including Eugene Richards' award-winning documentary, but,
the day came. Arthur Circle Music has published six books of Hatfield's
compositions, and in 2005 Mel Bay published his book Jazz and the Classical
Guitar: Theory and Application, which is designed to demonstrate Ken's unique
approach to playing jazz on a classical guitar. Ken has released nine CDs as a
leader on the Arthur Circle Music label. All feature him performing his
original compositions, five in ensemble settings.
In addition to performing as a solo artist and with his
ensembles at prestigious venues such as The JVC Jazz Festival, The Knitting
Factory, The Classic American Guitar Show, The Smithsonian Jazz Café, The
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Whitney Sculpture Court, and the North
Wales International Jazz Guitar Festival, Hatfield has performed and/or
recorded with artists and ensembles as diverse as The New York Pops, Charlie
Byrd, Jack McDuff, Chico Hamilton, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Aznavour, Bob
Cranshaw, Grady Tate, Harold Mabern, Marcus Miller, Kenny Kirkland, Dom
Salvador, Claudio Roditi, João Donato, Duduka da Fonseca, Marlena Shaw, and
Toni Braxton.
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