Here's a few of my favourite tracks that I'd like to have on my Spotlight page permanently if I had the room. To be here, it's important not only that I'm proud of the music, but also that I enjoyed the process of making them and the musical company of others involved

12 Front Page Favourites

My three year old boy had a minor operation this week...full marks again for the UK's 'free at the point of delivery' health service. It's now under threat from a government that is ideologically opposed to it. Time to reflect on the principles that lay behind it's launch in 1948. Britain was war weary and bankrupt at the time; the NHS was an incredible act of faith and for all its faults no nation provides a better health service to ALL its citizens.
Samples come from Tony Benn, Clement Atlee and Lord Beveridge. The accordion and flute are played on the wind synth.

New Jerusalem, Dave McKeown with Tony Benn

Some of you know I gig regularly with a Klezmer band called Hazaar. We haven't got around to making recordings yet so I thought I'd represent that for now with a couple of "one take" recordings of my favourite Klezmer tunes on clarinet. This one is a Nigun, a melody from the Jewish liturgy that has  migrated into a secular instrumental. This is quite a common and acceptable thing in Jewish music. The Christian equivalent would be a tune from the mass being played as a wedding dance I guess. Anyway, it's a wonderful melody; the abrupt key changes and shifts in mode are very typical and suggest emotional ambiguity and complexity; this is what attracts me to Jewish culture in general and Jewish music in particular.

Long Live The Nigun, Trad. arr. Dave McKeown

Here is the second of recent klezmer clarinet recordings. This one is a dance that neatly describes the hustle and bustle of the 7.40 evening rush hour in Odessa, Ukraine.

davemckeown.co.uk

7.40, Trad. arr. Dave McKeown

I recorded two contrasting klezmer tunes recently and that was all I planned to do, but my good friend in Chile, Francisco, sent me an intriguing track he had made, mixing my Long Live the Nigun with a drone, a rabbi, and a beautiful Jewish cello melody. This track produced all sorts of gorgeous accidental sounds, but to do full justice to the melody and Francisco's idea I decided to record a brand new clarinet part to fit. 

The clarinet you hear on this track was the very first take, and is completely unedited. Things don't usually come that easily! Listening back I got a strong feeling for Gustav Meyrink's powerful novel, The Golem, a hallucinatory depiction of the Ghetto in Prague, full of flickering shadows and dark alleys. If you ever visit Prague, read it before you go. So I added the bells of St Vitus' Cathedral in Prague…impossible to describe how physical an experience it is to stand in the square and listen to these bells in full swing…almost frightening.

In the meantime, I can thoroughly recommend Francisco's page, https://soundcloud.com/ttaattoo
He is a master of combining samples in meaningful and wonderfully creative ways and his gentle spirit shines through everything he does.

The Golem's Lullaby, Dave McKeown, with TTAATTOO (Francisco Casas Errazuriz)

This track combines Herbie Hancock's jazz classic “Maiden Voyage” and Louis MacNeice's beautiful poem about the passage of time, “Star Gazing”. It features two of the most talented musicians I have heard on Soundcloud. 
Derek Cornett from California can play in any guitar style, from classical to rock to jazz, and like most superb musicians is incredibly humble about his huge collection of skills. Here he does his Pat Metheny impression early on and shreds like John Schofield later on.
Risa Kobayashi from Japan combines electronics and jazz piano. I love electronic music and I love jazz. I've tried to combine the two in the past but one always seems to suck the energy out of the other. A visit to Risa's page shoes us how to do it, with rhythmic drive, fresh original sounds, awesome technique and a real sense of the dramatic. Her piano on this track is wonderful, whether soloing or vamping. 
Please take the time to visit the soundcloud pages of these amazing musicians…
https://soundcloud.com/derek-cornett
https://soundcloud.com/risa-2
This is fourth time I have associated a Louis MacNeice poem with music and it won't be the last. I have many real-life associations with this poet and the places and experiences he describes. This is not a depressing poem for me. The immensity of time and space always fills me with awe and wonder, not horror…it helps me keep my perspective on life. As usual, Louis Mac Neice says it so much better than I ever could and the tune “Maiden Voyage” with its beautiful modal changes just feels like it could keep on expanding and opening out for ever…perfect for this poem.
Star-Gazer
Forty-two years ago (to me if to no one else 
The number is of some interest) it was a brilliant starry night 
And the westward train was empty and had no corridors 
So darting from side to side I could catch the unwonted sight 
Of those almost intolerably bright
 Holes, punched in the sky, which excited me partly because 
Of their Latin names and partly because I had read in the textbooks 
How very far off they were, it seemed their light 
Had left them (some at least) long years before I was.  

And this remembering now I mark that what 
Light was leaving some of them at least then, 
Forty-two years ago, will never arrive
 In time for me to catch it, which light when
 It does get here may find that there is not 
Anyone left alive 
To run from side to side in a late night train 
Admiring it and adding noughts in vain.

Maiden Voyage, Star-Gazer, Dave McKeown with R1SA and Derek Cornett

This, with a little help from my good friend Bas Kooman in theNetherlands on guitar, is my Christmas card! The lyrics are below. Happy Christmas everyone, and as the song suggests, be careful what you wish for!

It's gonna to be cathartic
Doing Christmas in the Arctic
If you want a cool Yule
Then grab your cagoul
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

There's no coca-colar
All the teddies are polar
Try cranberry sauce
With a slice of walrus
Eating in a Winter Wonderland

Lately I've been feeling slightly stranded
Information comes by word of mouth
Haven't been on Facebook since I landed
The internet has seriously gone south

Passing time with the Eskimos
Beats queuing in Tescimos
If you lend me your rod
I'll catch you a cod
Fishing in a Winter Wonderland

All I want for Christmas is bionics
Lately I've been lacking vital signs
All my bits are subject to cryonics
The Arctic winter's reached my Calvin Kleins

The countryside, it's bucolic
The locals, alcoholic
I'll be in my igloo
Going down with man flu
Shivering in a Winter Wonderland…

I'm hip to the beat
Tennis racquets on my feet
Dancing in a Winter Wonderland…

Santa smells stale
Since the reindeer are real
Riding in a Winter Wonderland…

When scurvy breaks out
We'll defrost the sprouts
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

https://soundcloud.com/hebikjoudaar

Winter Wonderland(but not as you know it), Dave McKeown with Heb Ik Jou Daar

I've never been able to find much information on this beautiful aria by G F Handel. It was originally written for soprano voice, oboe and harpsichord, and even though it doesn't appear in an opera it retains the Italian operatic style of which Handel was a master. I love the counterpoint between the two melodic parts so I have arranged this version for two clarinets.

Meine Seele hört im Sehen, G.F. Händel, Dave McKeown

Here is the new release from Victoria Klewin and the True Tones, available to you, right here, as a 320bps FREE download mp3.

This is somewhat different from my normal soundcloud releases. VKTT is one of my regular gigging bands and this track was recorded recently in a professional studio. The band features the wonderful Victoria Klewin, the “lovechild of Janis Joplin and Sarah Vaughan”. Victoria sings with amazing power, technical assurance  and most of all, intensity. The band of Esteban Olmos, Mark James, Paul Crawford, Paul Field, Sam Mills and myself has found that perfect balance between tightness and risk-taking, so every gig is an adventure. In a short space of time VKTT has enlivened festivals across the south of the UK, from Bath International, to Glastonbury, to Bristol Harbourside and Brisfest, to the jazz festivals in Marlborough and Cheltenham. There has also been a full live set for Jazz FM recorded at Boisdales Jazz Club in London. 

So help yourself to a free download and if you do, leaving a little orange heart or a comment in return would be much appreciated. If have time you can visit the band website at http://www.vk-tt.com

VK-TT website

Free Download! "Got a Question", Dave McKeown with Victoria Klewin and the True Tones

Not sure if this track makes a political point...and let's face it, the way the Western media portrays things, none of us has a clue about what's really going on in Libya....I was just struck by the utter contrast in the way Western leaders and Qaddafi spoke.  But no matter whether one speaks with control or with passion, war is war.

I wouldn't kiss that Camel for all the Oil in LIbya, Dave McKeown with Colonel Qadaffi

There follows a Party Political Broadcast by the UK Independence Party…

We have local and European elections here in the UK next week and as often happens, many will protest against the present national government by voting for a minor party instead. Unfortunately the party that stands to benefit from this in 2014 is a little-englander, turn-back-the -clock, collection of opportunists called UKIP. They are a one-man-band led by Nigel Farage, a kind of Jeremy Clarkson with less hair, a used car salesman kind of politician. They would like to stop immigration and pull the UK out of the European Union, and all their other policies are designed to instil fear and suspicion of anything that isn't white, middle class and born in England. There is no place for people like this in modern mainstream politics. However, if you have a vote next week, and you do indeed want a miserable future, then go ahead and vote UKIP.

This track features the rhythm guitar of Barney Cockell and the lead solo is by Joe Reynolds. We teamed up through the Soundcloud Easter Tombola, a bit late with our submission, but keeping it until now makes it topical! Thanks for your patience Barney. You can hear more of Barney's music at https://soundcloud.com/barney-cockell

and you can hear more songs from the tombola at https://soundcloud.com/barclaybunch/sets/soundcloud-tombola-2014

Vote UKIP (for A Miserable Future), Dave McKeown with Last of the Dark Hearts and Joe Reynolds

Joy Spring by Clifford Brown has long been a favourite jazz standard of mine, one of those tunes that uplifts, a perfect reflection of its wonderful title.

I suggested making a version to Derek and he came back with this wonderful arrangement; his feather light acoustic guitar and easy swing tempo are a perfect counterpoint to my clarinet. It's a lovely combination and one that comes as close as I've come to capturing the elusive spirit of this sweetest of jazz tunes. 

Clifford Brown died at the age of 25, pretty typical for a jazz musician in the '50s you might say. The tragic irony is he bucked the trend, was famously clean-living but died in a car accident travelling between gigs.

Please listen to more of Derek's brilliant music at https://soundcloud.com/derek-cornett



Joy Spring, Dave McKeown with Derek Cornett

I recorded these samples on a recent trip to Scotland...this track contains nothing else but Scottish water from Campbeltown in Kintyre and Uig in Skye poured into my Mac. There is no EQ added, just a little reverb and delay for depth, a touch of limiter for smoothness...this track mixed itself and is free of additives and artificial flavourings. Just water.

Music Made out of Scottish Water, Dave McKeown

This piece is a heavily adapted version of a “Valse Parisienne” I wrote for clarinet duet. I made this version to accompany one of my cycling films, and is best seen in context here, https://youtu.be/zZNbYLNQyQw

The accordion incidentally is played on wind synth. I’ve had my WX11 for 30 years now…amazing that I can still plug it in and use it with new technology. 

It's a cold winter day here, so it's sweet to look back and remember the heat of that Italian summer day.

L'Amour

I love this old Hoagy Carmichael song, I always feel an emotional buzz from its simple and direct lyrics wherever and whenever I play it. Right now, it has a special meaning and so it's time for a new version, time to dust off the bass clarinet and make a quartet arrangement. 

Dave McKeown online

The Nearness Of You, Dave McKeown (for Hannah)

Here are a some of my very favourite people all in one place. And I  very nearly mean in one place too. Bas (Heb Ik Jou Daar) sent us the the rhythm track from the Netherlands, but Hannah, Emma and I were all together in the UK when we recorded our bits, so it's not quite  your usual soundcloud collaboration. The we sent it all back to Bas for mixing and mastering. 

The poem and the reading is by Hannah,(Hanjan). There is MUCH more wonderful poetry to be found on her soundcloud page at https://soundcloud.com/hanjan

Please don't press "next" until you've heard Emma Shanley's spine-chilling vocal near the end. I've long been a fan, but now I've seen her do it for real…she basically presses record and out it comes, perfect. https://soundcloud.com/emma-shanley

Bas is a wonderful songwriter and performer. Make sure you listen to his music at https://soundcloud.com/hebikjoudaar
The quality never dips,he always has something interesting to say  and his production skills are second to none.

My contribution is to toot on bass and Bb clarinets and to sit back and enjoy the company of talented and generous friends, all of whom I've met here on soundcloud, all of whom have become close friends in the real world. 

 Sometimes

A sad woman asked me
“Can this be changed?”
and hoped I would have
a key in my pocket
to fit the lock of her
despair.

The lonely man asked
“What shall I do?”
as we both sat,
with his chain ankle ghost,
that manacled
freedom.

Sometimes,
we keep our souls
in a locked box
on the window sill
and fear death’s fingers
if it rattles.

Sometimes,
we seek to hear only
clattering dialogue of thought,
clanking down the
one way tracks to
contention.

And sometimes
the truth is hidden in cell-seeds
trapped in shoulder stories,
or the anxious rope tale
of your skipping
stomach.

“What does your body say?”
I want to ask.
The answers
will hold their
breath and wait
for you.

But only in that
rejected, split off
holder, in the
soft sacred
fruiting
body bowl

Will you ever feel
the right question to ask.
The question that
tells you, finally:
it is time
to harvest.


Sometimes, Dave McKeown with Hanjan, Emma Shanley and Heb Ik Jou Daar

A rough recording of a Sunny Jim session around St Patrick's Day 2014 featuring Nick Scott on Uilleann Pipes, Russell Frampton on guitar, John Redmond on bodhran and myself on Low Whistle. 

Cornerhouse Set, Dave McKeown with Sunny JIm

Wind Controller performance of a chamber piece scored for two flutes, two clarinets, and alto and tenor saxophones. I wrote this as part of a suite for the beautiful Scilly Isles, off the west of Cornwall. each movement is dedicated to a different island in the group. The island of Tresco is famous for its sub-tropical gardens and hotels. The second largest of the group It is primarily a tourist destination. 

Tresco, Dave McKeown

I can't really define the groove on this track by Martyn Wilding, aka Penguin Fawkes, but the first time I heard it I thought it was irresistible. Then along came the muted trumpet at 1.55, like Miies Davis visiting from the other side, and I just wanted to join the band. Consequently Martyn very kindly allowed me to vandalise his brilliant tune in the name of jazz.. You have him all to yourselves though before I come in honking on alto sax about half way through to the end.

You will find more of Martyn's music here...
http://soundcloud.com/nastym

Dancing with Bears, Dave McKeown with Penguin Fawkes

This incident in Baghdad 2007, has become infamous after Wikileaks obtained the Apache helicopter footage and cockpit recordings. That's what you hear on this track, alongside the moving testimony of US soldier Ethan McCord. 12 civilians died including 2 Reuters staff; it's thought their cameras were mistaken for guns. The children were severely wounded when their father tried to evacuate the injured in his van. This isn't anti-American...it just shows how modern war dehumanises by making the whole grisly business of killing a remote operation. I've been looking for a musical way to present this material for some months and when I heard Cyra Morgan's incredibly beautiful lullaby I knew the search was over. I am so incredibly grateful to her for allowing me to use her music in this way. I also play low whistle, a type of Irish flute, and also real Irish bagpipe drones.



New Day, Dave McKeown with Cyra Morgan

Here's a real live band I've played a couple of gigs with recently.  I'd made this recording and rehearsed with the band but until I played live I had no idea of just how powerful, intense, technically assured and expressive Victoria's voice is. Overall the band's in that terrific sweetspot where there's a perfect balance between respect for the tradition and a confidence to do their own thing. I'm on clarinet on this one.

You can find more music from the band at 
http://soundcloud.com/victoria-klewin/tracks

Dance me To Heaven, Dave McKeown with Victoria Klewin and the Truetones

This is my second recording with the fabulous Mello. If you haven't heard them before be sure to visit their individual pages, links below. Jasmine's a fantastic singer, Pete's an amazing all round producer and musician, together they write great songs, and together they put the passion and the heat back into trip-hop.
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/soundtrack-audio" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Soundtrack-Audio</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/jasmine-bee" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jasmine Bee</a>



Sea of Reasons, Dave McKeown with Mello (Jasmine Bee and Soundtrack Audio)

Bean

Hi everyone!...can I just start with a serious recommendation?…NEVER get on a cross channel ferry without a good book or an mp3 player…otherwise, like me, you’ll end up staring out to sea in the middle of the night, half way between Le Havre and Portsmouth, cooking up ridiculous plans for mass collaborations on Soundcloud.
Anyway, here is the result, your big Soundcloud collaboration, featuring 230 samples from 200 contributors associated with 176 different Soundcloud accounts in 39 different countries. Lists of contributors and countries are found at the bottom of this introduction. I might be able to find you if you can't find yourself, but it will take me a while...suffice to say, I'm in there myself and I was never once aware of hearing my own voice when I was making the track...even though I know it's there.
This was always meant to be a project that celebrated the international creative community that is Soundcloud but I quickly discovered that if you ask people to contribute, they very quickly make it their own. The contributions included children from all over the world, two dogs, some lovely vocal lines, whispers, growls, and, all the way from the Phillippines, Gnetsound’s beautiful song that you hear at the beginning; her words are the most perfect summary of what Soundcloud is all about for so many of us.
Frank sent me recordings despite being literally up to his ankles in the Bangkok floods, Sophie Cabana sent me Niffy’s bark…Niffy the dog was gravely ill and had been Sophie’s faithful friend for 16 years, Paul Sale rounded up his entire family, circle of friends and his dinner guests from Burundi, Mark sent me recordings of his twin sons, then told me that, born prematurely, they had taken years to speak, and I realised what a precious sound I had been entrusted with. My own little boy Isaac is in there, and my older daughter Siobhan as well, though she’s got her own Soundcloud account and a musical life of her own...in fact she is the one who introduced me to Soundcloud a year ago.
Technically, the track is 100% your voices….I’m not sure I should say who’s a hihat or a kick drum! My old PC just couldn’t cope, so it was all done on my Macbook with Reason 6, using 16 virtual samplers, each loaded with a sample assigned to each key, individually classified, edited and panned. The main problem apart from the time involved, was the fact that the bite point for each sample was not at the beginning of the wav, so quantising was useless and all notes had to individually played and dragged around until they were rhythmically where they needed to be.
Anyway, it’s been a huge amount of fun….I just finally want to say thank you to the Soundcloud Community Team for really getting behind the whole idea…these guys are doing a great job in general…big thanks also to Geoff and Pete for their technical input....and of course a MASSIVE shout out to all of you for taking part….it’s been a real life-affirming experience.
Much love and respect
Dave McKeown
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/gnetsound" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gnetsound</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/1car0s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1car0s</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/1manrecords" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1manrecords</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/2partysystem" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">2PartySystem</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/3setsofsandels" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">3setsofsandals</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/69ohmz" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">69Ohmz</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/accordeosynther" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">accordeosynther</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/adrillo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Adrián Portillo Jiménez</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/al1cka" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alica ©</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/alastair-toms" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alastair Toms</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/alexcebrian_18" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Djlex</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/alisonboston-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">alisonboston-1</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/amber-tunes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amber-tunes.com</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/anthonygreentree" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anthony Greentree</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/archimedes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Archimedes</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/asacko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Asacko</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/audism" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">audism</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/awakened-soul" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://soundcloud.com/awakened-soul</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/balammusic" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">balam(FredWhite)</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/barbarajoy-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">White Winged Dove</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/barclaybunch" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Barclaybunch</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bekah-b" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bekah B</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bellobello" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bello.</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bougie" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bougie</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bravenote" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">bravenote</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/broond" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Broond</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/c-257" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Creative Mess</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/cammy-enaharo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cammy Enaharo</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/carolb123" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Carolyn Burnette</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/close2god" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">close2god</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/collecting-pool" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Collecting Pool</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/cyramorgan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cyramorgan</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/daghope" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">daghope</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dance-pen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dance Pen</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dancingcobraproductions" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kalid Jamie</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/daneo-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Daneo</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dan-ling" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dan Ling</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dark_barcelona" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shauna-Kay Hamilton</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/davemc-2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DaveMcK</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dave-mckeown" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dave McKeown</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/david" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Noël</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/david-colley" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Colley</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/deceive" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Deceive</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/deeplydazzled" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DeeplyDazzled</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dehgeh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Deh Geh</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dgreening" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">♬ Dave Greening</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dietriangle" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dietriangle</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/djeep-2/tracks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cha'tima</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dj-sofi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CABANA</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dominic-may-50" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dominic may 50</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/donald-gisbey" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Donald Gisbey</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/downthatroad" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Down That Road</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/drumrmusiq" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">drumrmusiq</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/duncanbuchanan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duncan Buchanan</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/dynamic_decibel" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dynamic Decibel</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/earthfriend" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">earthfriend</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/ebrudengiz" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ebrudengiz</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/ejcoombe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ejcoombe</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/emmazen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">emmazen</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/ewenallardyce" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ewen Allardyce</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/experimentator" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eXPerimentator</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/fabrizio-festa" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fabrizio Festa</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/fadervixen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fader Vixen</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/feltscher" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ines Feltscher</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/feral_fields" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ƒ∑®∆L ƒ¡∑L∂§</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/freddiehill" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ticking Clocks</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/gnetsound" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gnetsound</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/gracelette" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gracelette</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/hanjan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HanJan</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/high_voltage-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">High_Voltage</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/hollyhero" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">4fuxache</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/htw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HTW</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/indigolab" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">indigolab</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/infra-red-4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">REDELIQA.</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/intrieri-theory" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Intrieri Theory</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/irunak" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">irunak</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/ivmi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ivmi</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/janeshin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jane Shin</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/janmalkowski" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jan Małkowski</a>
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/jazzman58" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jazzman58</a>
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Hannah
Lily
Ryan
Isaac
Zack
Eva
Niffy
Snoop
Eleanor
Noemi
Harry
Connor
Sharon
Shelley
Francine
Lloyd
Dylan
Fukukosuke
James
Alex
Remy
Jean
Pete
Omar

Argentina
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I took the picture from the top of the lighthouse on Lundy Island, UK

SOUNDCLOUD!  Dave McKeown with 200 of YOU and nothing else!...please read description

Here is a piece for piano and tenor saxophone. Big thanks to <a href="http://soundcloud.com/dgreening" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">♬ Dave Greening</a> for very kindly allowing me to root around in his extensive back catalogue for another tune suitable for collaboration; with it's wide open spaces at the beginning and end and with the beautifully voiced and intense middle section, this piece fits the bill perfectly.
All the different moods in the piece are created and played with gorgeous sensitivity and a sure-footed sense of structure by Dave. It was a huge pleasure to spend time adding an extra layer on saxophone.

I took the picture in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire

Bliss, Dave McKeown with Dave Greening

Here is a Prelude and Fugue I've written for saxophone quartet. For those of you not familiar with the format, that's soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones and I'm playing them all on this recording.
This music was written for the <a href="http://returntostyx.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://returntostyx.com</a>/ project created by David Stuart, aka <a href="http://soundcloud.com/archimedes">Archimedes</a>. This is an exciting collaborative novel with contributions in text, music and image by all sorts of talented people here on Soundcloud and from elsewhere. It's a fascinating process seeing how people have interpreted the brief and brought their own creativity to bear on the project.
When David mentioned the "Return to Styx" project the first thing that came to my mind was Handel's amazing Baroque operas in which the Underworld was a common theme. It's difficult for us to imagine the incredible impact a Handel opera would have had on the audience of the day. There would have been no CGI or amplification or indeed, much acting or scenery. But Handel knew how to convey very real human emotions in his exquisite music, and that's what theatre-goers would have felt as they concentrated on the performers. That's why I decided to write this piece in a Baroque style....not as an attempt to capture any of the passion and artistry of Handel because that's an impossibility.... but to pay my respects to that first emergence of the personal and vulnerable voice in musical theatre.
For those of you interested in this sort of thing, I originally planned the first movement as a Toccata, but it's not quite long or difficult enough to justify that title, so I've settled for the less ambitious Prelude. The Fugue is in 4 equal voices, with two main themes heard together in counterpoint at the beginning of the movement, before being developed around the ensemble in various keys and combinations. The Prelude is principally in D minor, but the main key in the Fugue is F Major. The Fugue's coda however modulates back to D minor, bringing the piece to a close with the same harmonic sequence as in the Prelude .

I took the picture in a cave carved out of the ice in a glacier in the French Alps

Cave of Mirrors, Prelude and Fugue, Dave McKeown

Here is a sweet collaboration on a minor key blues with the fantastic Swedish guitarist Anders Isberg, aka http://soundcloud.com/single_espresso

This has been bouncing backwards and forwards between Sweden and the UK for a few weeks now but we've finally got the version that we like and you deserve! Anders played guitar (look out for a super cool solo), organ and bass, I played tenor sax and sequenced the drums.

The picture was taken in secret by a Swiss fellow, Guillaume Briquet, showing the deserted city of Prypat next to the Chernobyl Nuclear power station. The weather, radioactivity, natural degradation and looters show how transient mankind's mark on the landscape is. meanwhile, enough radioactive plutonium to kill 100 million people, with a half life of a quarter of a million years, lies behind a concrete sarcophagus that is already in an advanced state of decay.
http://soundcloud.com/single_espresso

Smoky Blues, Dave McKeown with Anders Isberg

Here is a collaboration with the wonderfully talented and undeniably funky Spanish percussionist Coco G. Diez; on this track she plays both vibes and marimba. 
Most of you probably know that Under Milk Wood is a play written for radio by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas, later turned into a film featuring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and many other amazing actors. It left a deep impression on me when I was involved in a stage production as a teenager. This musical impression of the play comes from a wonderful 1965 album by British jazz pianist Stan Tracey, featuring the lyrical tenor sax of the young Bobby Wellins. The simple structure belies the same kind of colourful and chromatic harmony that Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn used time and again in their ballads for the likes of Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster.
I transcribed the tune from the recording a couple of years ago and showed it to a few pianists at gigs but one look at the chords and no-one wanted to take it on, so I never got the chance to play it. When I suggested it to Coco however, the response was, “sure, send it to me and I'll work it out”. ….and shortly after I got this beautiful rich vibes and marimba track, perfect in every way, tempo, feel, texture ….the saxophone part came very easily with such an accompaniment to work with....thank you Coco!...please check her music at the link below

http://soundcloud.com/cocogdiez

I took the picture in the Welsh fishing harbour of Tenby

Under Milk Wood, Dave McKeown with Coco G. Diez

Here is a collaboration with a lovely old friend Liz Monument. Liz and I both studied music at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire a few years ago. Those of you who have had the chance to do something like that will know that the friendships you make there go beyond the social...you share creativity with your classmates and for me, I always keep a cozy seat in my heart for anyone with whom I make good music. Back then, Liz was a fantastic classical guitarist, but since then she has widened her range to encompass many more styles and stringed instruments....including the sparkling harp that features here alongside the guitar. A couple of years ago we renewed friendship via facebook and this year we're making music again via soundcloud. Please listen to more of Liz's beautiful playing at http://soundcloud.com/lizmonument

Here I play the Uillean Pipes and Low Whistle. I absolutely adore the pipes, but they also frustrate me as I don't think I'm physically cut out to play them to the standard I'd like to. But now and then I give them a day out. If by any chance you like the sound here, please do me the favour of going to youtube and checking out what REAL pipers can do, like Paddy Keenan, Cillian Vallely and Davy Spillane.

Liz's harp provides a perfect setting here for Louis MacNeice's amazing poem The Strand. The harp's chords lap like waves on the poet's beach. I have a strong identification with this poem; my father was also a Northern Irish clergyman who “kept something in him solitary and wild”. The last quality time I spent with my father was a wordless walk on such an Irish strand. The image attached to the song is a washed out old slide I took that very winter afternoon....'white Tintoretto clouds' behind Slieve Donard, towering above the beach at Newcastle, County Down. All that's missing is the 'square black figure' beyond the viewfinder to the left. 

The Strand

by Louis MacNeice

White Tintoretto clouds beneath my naked feet,
This mirror of wet sand imputes a lasting mood
To island truancies; my steps repeat

Someone’s who now has left such strands for good
Carrying his boots and paddling like a child,
A square black figure whom the horizon understood -

My father. Who for all his responsibly compiled
Account books of a devout, precise routine
Kept something in him solitary and wild,

So loved the Western sea and no tree’s green
Fulfilled him like these contours of Slievemore
Menaun and Croghaun and the bogs between.

Sixty-odd years behind him and twelve before,
Eyeing the flange of steel in the turning belt of brine
It was sixteen years ago he walked this shore

And the mirror caught his shape which catches mine
But then as now the floor-mop of the foam
Blotted the bright reflections - and no sign

Remains of face or feet when visitors have gone home.

The Strand, Dave McKeown with Liz Monument

Here is  my transcription and performance of Handel's Trio on two Bb Clarinets and one Bass Clarinet. This Allegro movement is one of four in the first Trio of eight that make up Opus 2. The depth and textural variety is stunning and the sheer vitality a complete joy to hear, let alone play, so all the more amazing to learn he wrote them as a young teenager.

G F Handel Opus 2, Trio no.1, Allegro

Here is a collaboration with http://soundcloud.com/michelle-eaton and http://soundcloud.com/emma-shanley, two of the most talented and lovely folks you are ever going to meet on the cloud, and I suspect, anywhere.

This is one of my all time favourite tunes, so adding a bit of tenor sax to Michelle's warm piano and Emma's gorgeous vocal is like setting a kid loose in a toy shop. 

By the way, if you like the picture of the three hunks at the top of this tune, and if you want to see their beautiful girlfriends, I strongly recommend you check out Michelle's version on her page.
http://soundcloud.com/michelle-eaton/the-nearness-of-you

The Nearness of You, Dave McKeown with Michelle Eaton and Emma Shanley

Here is a classy song from Anjù, with a little added alto saxophone for flavour. 

I just love the unique quality of Anju's voice….totally timeless, amazing control and very expressive in an understated way….a voice that sounds like it's seen a bit of life…. been there and done it! I only just met Anjù on the cloud a week or two ago. 

She's back in her native Germany  but I was gutted to hear she'd been living down the road from me in Devon, UK, for six months until a few weeks ago. Ah well…next time.

Do visit her page for more quality music.

Mmh-mmh, mmh-mmh, Dave McKeown with Anjù

Here is a beautiful song written and performed by http://soundcloud.com/anj-7 from Germany with a few subtle additions by the wonderful Michelle Eaton on piano and myself on clarinet. 

Anjù writes brilliant songs that are simple and direct. There are no pyrotechnics. She manages to imbue them with the deepest of emotions with the pure and intimate tone of her voice and impeccable phrasing and timing. Meanwhile, Michelle just captures the dark melancholy of this song perfectly on the piano. Just such a pleasure for me to be involved with such talent. 

Like the Sea, Dave McKeown with Anjù and Michelle Eaton

I've been having a bit of fun writing and recording some music over the last few days and I got a bit carried away with this one. The band is made up of flute, clarinet, alto sax and bass clarinet. It's a combo that seems to work quite well for me, lots of colours on the palette to work with. Don't ask me what key it's in, it's mostly constructed with augmented harmony around the note of Eb concert. 

Honey, Who Put the Toothpaste in the Microwave? Dave McKeown

Here is a collaboration with two of the nicest guys on the cloud, Vlad and Diederik. They met up in Sydney Australia last year and decided to make a track together. Before Christmas, just before Rik moved to the UK, he sent me his lovely gamelan track. I saw it was in the right key for my Uillean Pipes so decided to give them their annual outing. I also liked the idea of playing a  counterpoint on my yew wood flute, and that got me thinking about Wordsworth's powerful and mysterious poem about the yew trees he knew where he lived in the Lake District. 

Yew trees are wonderful. Some are thought to be over 5000 years old. I know one near here that is at least 1600 years old. The very same ancient yews that Wordsworth describes can still be seen in Borrowdale today. Because of their longevity they were places of worship in pre-Christian times, and many found in church yards in the UK were there long before the churches were built. The wood is a glowing mixture of purple, gold, red and orange, dense and very slow-growing. 
All this seemed to fit with Diederik's marvellous bubbling gamelan track. Yew Trees and Gamelan may seem strange bed-fellows but both represent cultural traditions whose origins are lost in the mists of time. I visited Buddhist temples in Cambodia a couple of years ago where the buildings and the trees had intertwined to become almost as one, and that's what I had in mind when I was making this track. 

In the meantime, Vlad recorded his bass track, and I couldn't believe when I heard it, it fitted so exactly with what I had added to the track. Apparently we had both heard Diederik's music in precisely the same way. 

Anyway, here is Wordsworth's poem.

There is a Yew-tree, pride of Lorton Vale, 
Which to this day stands single, in the midst 
Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore:

Of vast circumference and gloom profound 
This solitary Tree! -a living thing 
Produced too slowly ever to decay; 
Of form and aspect too magnificent 
To be destroyed. But worthier still of note 
Are those fraternal Four of Borrowdale,
 Joined in one solemn and capacious grove; 
Huge trunks! -and each particular trunk a growth 
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine 
Up-coiling, and inveteratley convolved, -  
Nor uninformed with Fantasy, and looks 
That threaten the profane; -a pillared shade, 
Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue, 
By sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged 
Perennially -beneath whose sable roof 
Of boughs, as if for festal purpose decked 
With unrejoicing berries -ghostly Shapes 
May meet at noontide: Fear and trembling Hope, 
Silence and Foresight, Death the Skeleton 
And Time the Shadow; there to celebrate, 
As in a natural temple scattered o'er 
With altars undisturbed of mossy stone, 
United worship; or in mute repose 
To lie, and listen to the mountain flood 
Murmuring from Glaramara's inmost caves.


Yew Trees, Dave McKeown with Diederik de Jonge and Vlad Josephson

I've been wanting to make a track about guns for a while now. I've collected a lot of samples and made a few false starts, but it wasn't until Kine posted these wonderful vocal stems for 'Father' that I could see a way forward. There are a few recordings from gun supporters and newscasters, but the main voice you hear is that of Kaitlin Roig, the incredible teacher who hid her first grade class in a tiny bathroom and kept them calm, quiet, and safe until the horror had passed.

I've been a huge fan of Kine since she put her first scratchy demos up on soundcloud a couple of years ago. There is a fragile power to her voice and a darkness and depth that is hard to fathom. The prayer she offers in this song puts into words perfectly what we all felt in the aftermath of events at Sandy Hook, Utøya, and elsewhere, but no-one can express it like Kine: and that, in a nutshell, is what music is for.

Darkness wash away my fear
make me forget I was ever there
take away my eyes take away my mind
make me understand how it feels to be blind

Father, Father hold me in your arms
make me feel safe make me feel strong
all I wanted was your love

Hold me in your arms
make me feel strong
I'm calling for your love
to wash it all away

Father, Dave McKeown with Kine Hjeldnes

    I have several exciting projects just bubbling under, but nothing new this week. Here instead is an oldie from about 5 years ago you may not have heard before. Just in case anyone's losing patience with Obama in 2012 it's always good to be reminded of what went before...



My Daddy Taught Me, Dave McKeown with George Bush Jnr (2012 remaster)

I am a working full-time musician, teaching, performing, composing, recording and arranging, and my gigs in the last few years have included jazz combo, big band jazz, folk, Irish traditional, rock, soul, latin, klezmer, funk, orchestral, chamber, minimal techno, musical theatre and more, so, safe to say, I’ll have a go at anything. 

I'm a firm believer in demolishing boundaries between genres, cultures, languages and ultimately people, and Soundcloud is a terrific place where all this can happen.

Dave McKeown

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