I tried writing in this style as an exercise and as a homage to Burt Bacharach, with the lyrics paying tribute to my father and his fathers before him.  They were all Welsh - the world they inhabited quite literally 'the land of my fathers'.  He grew up on a farm in the era of the horse and cart and often mentioned the effect singing in chapel had on him 'voices going round and round if the people wanted more'.  My good friend Phil Cashin sings it beautifully here.  Recently I was watching Mortimer and Whitehouse 'Gone Fishing' and realised it would be perfect for Paul Whitehouse so if anyone knows him...(there was even a fishing sound effect in Phil's and my original recording !)

The Land My Fathers Called Their Home

From the Regular Music album on Rough Trade. Written in 1982, recorded 1985.

© Jonathan Parry

Regular Music

Neapolitan sixth part 1

I Own The Night

Played by George W.Welch. BBC Recording 1995. Julia Munn, Emma Fowler, reeds; Hugh McDowell, cello; Sophia Preston, double bass; Jonathan Parry, piano; Ian Gardiner, Simon Allen, Martin Pyne, Mark Thomson, percussion

John White: Symphony No.3 (1981)

BBC Radio 3 commission, first broadcast in 1993, a work for radio using voices and sounds from the BBC Sound Archive, and a continuous score played by the group George W.Welch. Produced by Alan Hall and Ian Gardiner. Special Prize at 1994 Prix Italia, and 1994 Sony Radio Award. This excerpt comes from the end of the piece.

Monument [excerpt  - final few minutes]

The Regular Music album recently re-released on Klanggalerie contained parts 1 and 2 of my composition Hyppolyte & Aricie.  This is a home studio realisation of the final part 3 (also written in 1983/4)which was 1st performed in Nettlefold Hall London 26th November 1984, on an Arts Council Tour. It wasn't quite ready for the 1985 album and is still awaiting a 1st performance in this version.

Hyppolyte & Aricie 3 REMIX

Track 1 from 'The Turning World' album.  Composed in 1999.

Find Your Way Home

My 'HIgh on a Hill' album featuring pieces written between 1985 and 1987 when I was playing with 2 groups: Regular Music and George W Welch.  
Recently produced by me but including some recordings from that era  such as a live performance of "Shudder" by Regular Music from 1985.

High On A Hill Above Hathersage Remix J

An arrangement for pipe organ of one of my all-time favorite pieces of music by one of my all-time favorite composers, Jean Sibelius.

Andante Festivo (Jean Sibelius, arr. Aaron Krister Johnson)

The 4th track on my album 'Song for an Imaginary Tribe'.  A gentle jazz influenced track, with Bill Evans style voicing in the piano part, which changes metre frequently but subtly.  It has a romantic floating sort of feel to it, hence the title.  A home studio production, just completed, of a piece written in 2014.

Chagall

My take on a Hindi Zahra song. Giving it a chilled summer house vibe.

Neapolitan sixth part 1

Jonathan_Parry

Related tracks