Following the trail from Riverside Park through the dense woods along the river wildlife refuge, there stand foundations of stone. The inhabitants are long gone, and it fires the imagination: Who was it that once called these structures Home? Crossing the river at the next town upstream, following the trails back downstream on the opposite banks, dense woods and open grassy expanses hide more of these ancient structures. Some sheltered settlers, others mark the farms that they once worked on the fertile floodplain. Still others lead to sacred mounds and seasonal campsites abandoned long ago by the native inhabitants.

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Quiet Ruins on Floodplain Trails © 2025 by jazzcittern.com is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Home and Away

Quiet Ruins on Floodplain Trails

Signs of Life
 Beyond the edge of my remarkable existence
I see the worlds whirling by
And I wonder just what it is moving them 
That draws me on the way it do
         Looking for signs of life
I feel the way the planets pull upon my senses 
The way they seem to sing to me
Oh I know there are elements of danger
But it only works to woo
       Looking for signs of life
It may be with a star chart, a long lens and a flash of light
Or a soft brush, a deep look, a quick breath, so near
From the quietest whisper, the soft and fervent prayer
To the wild, wild, wild call
Spinning and turning, whirring and whirling away 
In arcs and curves, the endless ebb and flow
Do you read me?  (Over) Come in
Do you read me?  (Over)

Signs Of Life

Market Day
Cupboards are empty
My bins are bare
So I’m gonna be off to market
I will buy there:
Half pints of happiness 
Arm-fulls of hugs
Weigh out some wonder 
and a big loaf of love
Six packs of cheerfulness
Gallons of grace
Two pounds of friendship
I’ll empty this place
Cartloads of laughter
Bags full of grace 
I’ve got coupons 
For kindness
Wisdom and praise
It’s market day
Four cups of wishes
Throw in some smiles
There’s a special on kisses
A sale down the aisles
It’s market day
Ring up my purchase
I’ve cleared off the shelves
But these bags aren’t heavy
They’ll carry themselves
It’s market day

Market Day

Round Here
Many winds blow through my windows
Many colors paint my skies
And a sound like thunder 
That I’ve come to recognize
What it is and what it might be
Play together in a game
If things were different 
They’d still be the same
Round here there’s a heartbeat
It might be yours or it might be mine
Either way somebody’s heart’s beating overtime
Foreign words without their meaning
Alluring as they flow
You may not understand
But your heart already knows
Round here there’s a heartbeat
It might be yours or it might be mine
Either way somebody’s heart’s beating overtime

Round Here

One Heat
Lie still in a quiet room soft bosom rise and fall
Lie still to the wind unveiling all
One heat two hearts
Two flames One heat
Unlace the evening let fall the folds
Release the heat I know you hold
One heat two hearts
Two flames One heat
I want heat Bring heat
My my my heat One heat

One Heat

The Ancients
He said they’d been by here long ago
I don’t believe it, I can hear them breath
I’ve seen their footprints all over
The artifacts and the arrowheads
Their campfires are warm
I hear them on the open plain calling
I can feel their light caress as they go slipping by
In the shadows of the family trees and the bloodlines
The origin and the embryo and the gentle moan of love’s embrace
I hear them, I feel them near
I see them, they’re all around me
Far ahead and far behind
Locked in the ritual dance
To the primitive pulse of the primal urge
The fertile egg and the scattered sperm
Handed down in the holy words and war cries
The ancient beat of a distant time
Beats anew in the child’s breast
All the gods and the goddesses
Have mated and merged and given birth
To newer gods so many gods and
Every one the one and only one
Time and time and time again it goes on
If I have my father’s eyes
Who's were they before him?
I hear them, I feel them near
I see them, they’re all around me
It mystifies me
It fills me up 
It terrifies me
It draws me on and on
I hear them,I feel them near
I see them, they’re all around me
I hear them, I feel them near
I see them, they’re all around

The Ancients

A modal jazz original - Beyond The Horizon.  Joined again by the wonderful Georg Boehme on bari sax and flute.  Follow Georg's superb playing and arranging:  https://soundcloud.com/georg-boehme
And for a playlist of the many tunes we have recorded together: https://soundcloud.com/jamie-rhind/sets/grooving-with-georg-boehme

Be safe, be well and mask up!  Thanks for your generous time listening, for your comments and for your shares.

Beyond The Horizon -  Georg Boehme / Jamie Rhind

Back with the wonderful Georg Boehme on tenor sax and Stephan Lipinski on guitar with this original, We Gotta Bring This Together.  Such talented musicians!  Love what they do
https://soundcloud.com/georg-boehme
https://soundcloud.com/pinner

Thanks as always for your generous time listening, for your comments and for your shares

We Gotta Bring This Together - Georg Boehme / Stephan Lipinski / Jamie Rhind

We like to build things and watch them run. We love music, Ambient to Epic, Meditative to Cinematic... We enjoy building backing tracks for enhanced live performance... And we love to discuss NST and fifths tuning.... 

In 2007 I Googled every instrument under the sun, and saw there is a 'jazz' usage of just about every instrument. Even jazz bagpipes. Back then somebody tabulated the term "jazz" and its association with musical instruments, and just about everything was represented - But NO CITTERN.

And that year jazzCittern was born.

(What's a jazzCittern? The 10-string long-scale bouzouki is really the happy offspring of a Mandocello and a Bouzouki. This instrument, when tuned CGDAE, becomes an extraordinary jazz instrument - the extra course illustrates the wonderful symmetries available in fifths tuning. Chord building and scale visualization is a breeze.)

Virtually and musically yours,

CS

Quiet Ruins on Floodplain Trails

jazzCittern

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