Jim Combs Fusion

In March of 2020 while mixing the CD Waiting I decided the project needed more songs with the guitar as the lead instrument. I wrote Zozo to be the first song of the CD. It was this point where the CD changed from atmospheric music to a more jazz/rock sound. I was reading about Voltaire at the time I was writing this song thus the name Zozo, as it was Voltaire's nicknamed by his family.

Zozo

This was the first song I wrote for the CD Keepsakes. It’s about the hot air balloon ‘Aerostat Reveillon’ which on September 19, 1783 was the first flight ever with passengers; a sheep, duck and a chicken. Scientist Pilatre De Rozier setup the demonstration for King Louis XVI to give him assurance that human beings could breathe at the higher elevations.

Aerostat Reveillon

At Sixes And Sevens had several revisions. Originally, the opening of the piece was in 6/4 and the remainder of the song was in 7/4 (thus the title) but i didn't like the 6/4 feel. I decided to stay in 7/4 for the entire song (pretty much).

At Sixes And Sevens

Memoirs of the Twentieth Century – The title comes from the 1733 novel by Samuel Madden, considered the first of English literature to ever feature time travel. I wrote this to be the first song on the CD and was the last I song wrote for the project.

At the completion of my project “Waiting”, I decided to start on another project immediately. I’m not sure whether it was my turning 60 or the fact that 2020 was a year that had me wishing for another time, but either way I found myself drawn to stories of time travel. 

I did not begin the Keepsakes project with the idea it would be a concept project/CD, but it does seem to feel like one. It Just proves how much your writing is influenced by your situation, whether you realize it or not.

Memoirs Of The Twentieth Century

While on the NASA website I found an image of Olympus Mons from the Viking 1 Orbiter which gave me the idea for this song.  Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in our solar system, over 25 miles high from it's base to it's summit. The base is as large an area as the state of Arizona. 

I have included into this number recordings from Mars by the Perseverance rover. These recordings include the Ingenuity helicopter on April 30, 2021 as it flew on Mars for the fourth time, sounds of the Perseverance rover driving on Mars, the Perseverance rover as it laser zaps a Mars rock and wind sounds on Mars.

Special thanks to Kate Nord for the wonderful vocals on the track.

Olympus Mons

I love a good mystery, especially an ancient one. When I was researching Sibyl's Cave I ran across the story of 3,000 year-old underground city in Derinkuyu, Turkey. This song features Ben Beheshty on the Persian Santoor, Vocals by Tetem and Dumindu Dassanay on the Indian flute.

Stairs To Derinkuyu

After viewing the photograph of Nikola Tesla sitting on a chair in his Knobe Hill, Colorado Springs laboratory it made me wonder what the night sky must have looked like in 1899 while Tesla was performing his experiments. The photo also reminded of the James Whale's 1931 Frankenstien movie's lab designed which included Kenneth Strickfaden's movie machinery prop, his own Tesla coil that he called the Megavolt Senior. The marvelous bass solo is performed Stefan Pavlov and vocals by Volodymyr Chyzhovych. The intro has an actual recording of a Tesla coil charging.

Moonlight On Knob Hill

I have always loved the story of Odysseus and Aeolus. A story that shows us why we need patience and vigilance! This song features Walter Yones on vibes and Gabriel Rever on percussion.

Aeolus, Thanks For Nothing

The Jewel Of The Lyre or Vega is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, easily visible to the naked eye with a magnitude of 0.03. It is outshone in brightness only by Sirius, Canopus, Arcturus, and Alpha Centauri. Throughout history, Vega and its constellation Lyra have been called the jewel, and with its surrounding stars, Vega depicts an ancient stringed instrument, the lyre. In Arabic tradition, Vega is connected to a predatory bird, either an eagle or a vulture, and the star's name is derived from the Arabic phrase 'the swooping eagle.' This is echoed in some versions of the Greek lyre story, which also involve an eagle. 

This song is part of the project Analog Buildup.

Special thanks to Gabriel Rever for his timbales work.

The Jewel Of The Lyre

In August 1877, Asaph Hall of the U.S. Naval Observatory conducted a systematic search and discovered two satellites, or moons, of Mars within a few nights of each other. Hall named the moons Phobos and Deimos, after the two sons of Mars who were his chariot attendants and constant companions. However, this was not the first time that the existence of these moons had been theorized. Almost three centuries earlier, in the early 17th century, astronomer Johannes Kepler had also proposed the idea of two moons orbiting Mars. This was due to a secret coded letter received from his colleague Galileo Galilei. Both Galileo and Kepler were influential figures in the field of astronomy, and their contributions are still celebrated today. 

When Galileo sent his coded letter, Kepler was eager to solve it and feel validated in his theories about Mars. The letter was written in Latin and contained a word puzzle for Kepler to decipher. Despite his best efforts, Kepler's interpretation of the code was not entirely accurate. He rearranged the letters to read 'be greeted, double-knob, children of Mars,' and believed this confirmed his theory. However, the actual solution to the puzzle was a playful joke from Galileo, not a scientific revelation.

This song is part of the project Analog Buildup.

Special thanks to Percussionist Reinaldo Ocando for his work on the bongos.

The Children of Mars

This started as a small synthesizer electronic piece but it wanted to be a larger number so now it is. This features Mannuel Trabucco on soprano sax.

Analog Buildup

“There is nothing permanent except change.” – Heraclitus.

The music industry (like many things) has changed greatly since I bought my first 45 record (Green Eyed Lady) at my hometown record shop in 1970. It would be very easy to lament over these changes (and I have.) However, with change comes new opportunities, and thanks to websites/apps like Soundcloud we musicians and composers have the opportunity to to be heard as never before. So thank you Soundcloud and thank you for visiting my page. - Jim Combs

Bio
* Born 1959
* From Southern New Jersey, USA
* Instruments: Guitar (jazz & classical), Bass, Piano, Voice 
* Influential LPs/music (not all and in no specific order): Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire, Miles Davis - Nefertiti & Sketches of Spain, Larry Coryell – Spaces, Weather Report - Heavy Weather, Pat Martino – Consciousness, Return to Forever  - Romantic Warrior,  Chick Corea - The Leprechaun, Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow,  Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures, Santana & McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender, ELP – Trilogy, Genesis - Wind and Wuthering, Yes - Close to the Edge, David Sancious - The Bridge, Be Bop Deluxe - Sunburst Finish, Ambrosia - Somewhere I've Never Traveled, Journey – Journey,  Rite of Spring & Petrushka – Stravinsky, Don Quixote - Richard Strauss, La Mer - Claude Debussy, Pavane pour une infante défunte & Daphnis et Chloé – Ravel, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta - Bartok ,  Andrew Lloyd Webber - Jesus Christ Superstar, Jerry Goldsmith - MacArthur, The Omen, Planet Of The Apes (1968), Isao Tomita - Snowflakes Are Dancing & The Bermuda Triangle.

Jim Combs Fusion

Jim Combs - Composer, Keyboardist and Guitarist