Glenn Dickson | "Wider Than The Sky"

Clarinetist Glenn Dickson, who has made waves with his bands Naftule's Dream and Shirim on John Zorn's Tzadik label, releases his first solo album Wider Than the Sky (NDR 104) on July 8, 2022. A lush and otherworldly album of solo clarinet with electronics, the music breaks new ground for Dickson, who is best known for his edgy klezmer-tinged improvisations and compositions as well as his traditional klezmer playing. Wider Than the Sky transfers those influences into calm, deep musical waters, where he weaves moody and hypnotic soundscapes blending the warm sounds of the clarinet with live digital processing.

Dickson started creating solo clarinet with electronics in the early 2000's, performing sporadically through the years when his schedule allowed, then rebooting his focus on the project in 2019.  The process grew more fruitful and essential during the pandemic when Dickson sustained his musical life by live streaming weekly “Dreams & Meditations” performances from his home for the better part of a year, culminating in the recording of this album.

Drawing on the work of guitarist Robert Fripp and flutist Paul Horn which he enjoyed as a teenager, as well as the improvisations of Greek and klezmer clarinetists, Dickson intertwines gentle whispers into orchestral layers of clarinet with long streams of melody, poignant monologues, and elegant counterpoints.  The clarinet’s silky tone, unusually wide pitch range, and expansive sonic palette infuse the music with resounding emotional resonance and the fascination of a journey into unknown territory.

In order to capture the process and energy of Dickson’s live performances, the album is culled from two studio sessions with all sounds created and manipulated in real time, no overdubbing or added sounds, using only the clarinet and a delay device.  While using technology built on repetition and stasis, Dickson keeps the pieces constantly changing and evolving, fading out one idea while introducing another, simultaneously overlaying solos which develop and intensify, then retreat and recede with motivic integrity and compositional logic.

On "Introit," Glenn's klezmer and Greek music experience shine through on an emotional soliloquy over a microtonal drone, calling to mind a Jewish doina or Greek miroloi. The track unfolds like a purging of the spirits from which the rest of the album flows.  "Closer to the Fire" finds warmth in an ever-evolving sonic foundation smoldering like a bed of coals beneath a long and gracious melodic development.  "Gentle Touch" follows with serene counterpoints underlying a seemingly endless melody.

"Memories Lost" takes the music into territory more searching and mysterious as Eastern influences reemerge in alluring modal explorations.  After a short "doina," the music gradually picks up with an undulating rhythmic underpinning and gives in to nostalgic probing of a forgotten past.  Remarkable for its persistent development of the theme in the solo, accompaniment, and coda, the piece conjures images of floating off in space to the sound of a celestial orchestra.

With its layered tremolos and glisses "Pursuing Winds" elicits a spooky urgency topped off by a lonely melodic cry.  Dickson displays symphonic precision as he brings in contrasting ideas which fit together yet remained distinct in the raging storm.

"Brave Shines the Sun" interlaces glistening bubbles of accompaniment with a placid melody culminating in a coda that develops into one of the album's best solo excursions. 

The album concludes with the restful title track, "Wider Than The Sky," uniting serene hymn-like textures, folksy melodies, and the ethereal yearning that serves as an underpinning for the whole album.

As bandleader and clarinetist with Naftule's Dream and Shirim, Glenn Dickson has recorded albums for Tzadik, Innova, Rykodisc and Newport Classics, played major jazz festivals in North America & Europe (Montreal, Berlin, New York, etc.), with the Philly Pops, and on Woody Allen and Sidney Lumet movie soundtracks.  He has created award-winning collaborations with Maurice Sendak ("Pincus & the Pig") and NPR's Ellen Kushner ("The Golden Dreydl").  As a composer he has received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant and has had his works performed and recorded by artists in Europe and the USA, as well as used by Woody Allen.  He studied harmony, counterpoint, microtones and all things musical with the legendary composer, educator, improvisor and reedman Joe Maneri, and performed with him and violinist/violist Mat Maneri in his microtonal jazz septet.  Dickson has toured and recorded with the eclectic rock band Hypnotic Clambake and the Greek bands Revma and Taximi.  He has performed his solo clarinet with electronics in the Boston area, as well as for the American Festival of Microtonal Music in New York.

Wider Than the Sky is available July 8, on Bandcamp and major streaming services.