Sketches

"James Dering does what the rest of us wish we could do: just sit down and play. Sketches is a testament to
this, and so much more. You have before you a rare glimpse into the creative process, an album by the prolific
composer and arranger whose entirety was actually improvised.

'My goal for this project,' explains Dering, 'was to assemble a collection of a generally light style, comprised
of pieces which, though improvised, still emanated a sense of continuity, much like pieces composed over time.'
In other words, these pieces don't sound improvised, and that's what is so admirable about Dering's endeavor.

Hear each piece as the artist did- in real time, from start to finish. Witness the birth of a melody, and its fusion
with complimentary ideas. Listen for the distinct approach and decision-process characterizing each piece. The
titles came after the fact- you could just as well create your own- but the ones given are James' impressions.

Some, namely Journal of a Leaf, The Waiting Room, Hindsight, and To Her, With Love, seem to embody a sense
of construction and organization from the onset.

In Winter Whisper and Stuck in the Triangle, both the most dissonant and most harmonically rich pieces in the
collection, the artist appears to be searching for something, only to have the search itself become the essence of
the music.

There are pieces- The Ballroom and Encouragement- wherein one distinct statement seems to have been made
only to have the pianist and us alike asking, 'what should come next?'

The Satellite, Fireflies, and Looking Back present melodies which almost never happen- until finally they do.
(This is especially true in Fireflies, where two notes a fifth apart ultimately become characters in a playful story-
like melody, and in Looking Back, where a dark, reminiscent tone surprisingly yields to a hopeful song, the true
heart of the piece.)

Like a pencil sketch, though, the collection has a certain human, rustic charm. If you listen closely, you might
even hear an occasional 'imperfect' note, or a small timing 'irregularity,' These idiosyncracies of the process
(very possible to electronically 'fix' with today's technology) have been purposely left alone to preserve the
spirit of The Sketch; unlike a painting, re-worked and polished over time, these sketches convey perhaps
something more inherent to the artist's true perception, and the creative process."