Rafah Crossing, written for cellist, Robert Lynn, is a musical statement of my feelings when, as an American living a privileged and comfortable life far away, I read, hear and think about the suffering of Palestinians living under siege in Gaza.

Rafah Crossing

Reed - The Point

II. ".1 Grams" - From Five Misappropriations for Solo Piano

III. "Someplace Prior" - from Five Misappropriations for Solo Piano (Live)

IV. "Waltz for Bill" - from Five Misappropriations for Solo Piano

In his Record of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton, Matsuo Bashō comes upon a three-year-old boy who has been abandoned by his parents and is crying pitifully on the bank of a river. Bashō gives the boy something to eat, but then continues on his way, leaving the child to die. He says…

How is it indeed that this child has been reduced to this state of utter misery? Is it because of his mother who ignored him, or because of his father who abandoned him? Alas, it seems to me that this child’s undeserved suffering has been caused by something far greater and more massive – by what one might call the irresistible will of heaven. If it so, child, you must raise your voice to the heaven, and I must pass on, leaving you behind. 
- Bashō

-Thanks to Derrick Golden for use of his bowed spring recordings


...the irresistible will of heaven...

Rafah Crossing, written for cellist, Robert Lynn, is a musical statement of my feelings when, as an American living a privileged and comfortable life far away, I read, hear and think about the suffering of Palestinians living under siege in Gaza. 

Rafah Crossing (for cello and fixed media): Robert Lynn, cello

Recorded by Robert Giracello on his Con Brio album.

"Waltz for Bill" - from Five Misappropriations for Solo Piano

“In this poor body, composed of one hundred bones and nine openings, is something called spirit, a flimsy curtain swept this way and that by the slightest breeze. It is spirit, such as it is, which led me to poetry, at first little more than a pastime, then the full business of my life. There have been times when my spirit, so dejected, almost gave up the quest, other times when it was proud, triumphant. So it has been from the very start, never finding peace with itself, always doubting the worth of what it makes.”
- Basho


100 Bones

Pelican Bay is a "supermax" prison in California where approximately 1500 inmates are held in solitary confinement. "The occupants of the Security Housing Unit (SHU) and Administrative Housing Unit spend 22.5 hours a day alone in windowless cells measuring about 7 x 11 feet. The remaining 90 minutes are spent, also alone, in bare concrete exercise pens. With no phone calls allowed, and only the rare noncontact visit, these prisoners...can only access the world outside their cells via their feeding slots" (motherjones.com May 8, 2013).

......[for performance materials, just send me a message]

Pelican Bay (with Kelly Hornbarger, flute)

"...that road is narrow..." is a reflection on William Stafford's famous poem, "Traveling Through the Dark."
Stafford's poem presents us with an ethical dilemma and stark picture of existence. As Terry Fairchild writes of the poem, "It is about the sadness that accompanies each traveler on the longer journey of life and toward the inevitability of death, so that when we encounter a misfortune on the road, we hesitate before we move on. Stafford's somber scene is a small tragedy, but in his simplicity, in his directness without swerving, he creates a metaphor for life."

Reed Thatroadisnarrow - Noisy Demo

REED_NONEISTRAVELING

Nocturne (by Tim Reed - featuring Farrell Vernon, sopranino sax)

Farrell Vernon, sopranino saxophone
Jim Steele, piano

Rocking (by Tim Reed)

Bio:

Tim Reed was born in May of 1976 weighing 11 pounds and 9 ounces. During the following fifteen years, his weight steadily increased, reaching approximately 170 pounds in 1991. Tim's height also increased during this time, reaching 6 feet and 4 inches in 1991. Between 1991 and 2007 his height remained steady at 6 feet and 4 inches while his weight fluctuated between 165 and 210 pounds. Tim is currently 6 feet and 4 inches in height and weighs 179 pounds (July 2011).
 
Ordinary Bio:

Tim Reed graduated with a B.A. in Creative Music Technologies from LaGrange College in 1999 and subsequently attended the Dallas Sound Lab School for the Recording Arts in the Fall of 2000. Tim completed his M.M. in composition/theory at Illinois State University in 2004 and his PhD in composition at the University of Florida in 2008. Tim's compositions have recently been performed at various festivals including Music '04 (Cincinnati Conservatory), the Nong Project, The Kentucky New Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, SEAMUS, Electroacoustic Juke Joint, FEAST, the Ball State New Music Festival and the International Double Reed Society Conference. His music has also been featured on radio programs including No Pigeonholes, Difficult Listening, Futhernoise Radio and Foldover. His compositions have been published by Trevco Music and by Lonely Whistle. Tim currently teaches music theory and composition at Manchester College in Indiana.


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