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Stories from Wonderland

by Tze Toh

supported by
Ajay Govinda Menon
Ajay Govinda Menon thumbnail
Ajay Govinda Menon Akite in the sky is my favourite on a rainy day! i remember the first time i heard Desh at the esplanade outdoor theatre! its like the violin and saxophone went on to infinity in improvisations Favorite track: A Kite in the Sky.
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    My debut album from 2011, featuring the track An Indian Folk Song meets Jazz which won first prize in the 2011 UK Songwriting Contest, Instrumental category. Also selected by The Business Times as one of the top 10 albums that "helped shape music in 2011".

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Desh 09:37
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By My Side 05:22
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Fly with Me 08:39
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about

Often in life, time and patience brings you what you truly desire. Understand why and what you love, and it will come to you. The music finds you. For the longest time I had little idea what my music was. I love film score music, am fascinated by jazz, Afro-cuban music and tango, marvelled at the works of the great classical composers (currently it’s Stravinsky) and am always intrigued/inspired by japanese movie, anime soundtracks, improvised music etc

In a similar sort of way, throughout most of our lives, we seek to find who we are, why we are here, and what are we meant to do. Music is no different. Classical music is an interpretative art, while jazz encourages self expression. My idea has always been to reconcile both - I believe for the music to truly connect and flourish, a significant amount of the musical material should originate from the performer, the musician himself/herself. What’s written should encourage the musician to express himself in a natural way, and each piece of music should have written parts/themes while leaving room for musicians to improvise and truly express themselves. It makes for more interesting listening as well, as each concert would be different!

I asked myself what was the thing about music that attracted me so much. It was the intensity of creating music “live” - improvising. Through the music manifesting itself in that moment, we connect with the audience the same way one connects with a story-teller - we experience the adventure, the joy, sadness, the excitement as it unfolds. That’s what makes it an out-of-the-world experience. To me, it’s like watching a movie, except that you become part of the movie (by virtue of the fact that your very presence makes a difference to musicians performing)

I also believe that music is a/the journey in itself; the process of creating the melodies, sounds, and finding the inspiration as we create. When you find the spark, the music takes a life of its own. I wanted to share this with the listener. However this process takes time and patient listening.

Hence, the length of most pieces in this album are 7 minutes or more. I am attracted by the idea of “deep listening” where we listen much more intently once the music goes beyond the typical length of commercial tracks (3-5mins). Jazz performances with full solos, extended classical works like Symphonies, and Indian music performances have that incredible ability to bring the listener to another another place and time

After figuring out what I wanted from the music, I was fortunate enough to meet the right musicians with whom to create the music. We did some performances, re-wrote and experimented with the music some more, and jammed quite a bit to develop our own musical language/vocabulary for the music, to improvise as an ensemble. This went on for around 5 years. It was only last year, that I felt we were ready to put together an album.

Given limited sources, and considering this is our first attempt at making an album, we are happy to say that the recordings captured much of the intensity in the music and our individual styles of expression. However, they are not fully reflective of our live performances (which are more exciting, adventurous!) but present a good introduction to our sound. Everything was recorded “live” with everyone in the same space, and minimal editing was done. Certain tracks, like Goddess of Rain were basically one takes. For the rest we took the best of two takes and often realised that no matter how much more prepared we were, the first take was usually the best !

Prelude to Fly with Me was an improvised piano piece with the intention of bringing in the main theme of Fly with Me at the end. Stories of Wonderland was a fortunate “accident” - an improvised piece which came about from some noodling on the piano in the studio. It was the last piece of the puzzle for the album, the last song I was looking for. It was a fitting magical end to an amazing journey.

Making Stories of Wonderland was the ultimate adventure for us, and we hope it will bring you as much a sense of wonder and joy, as it has brought us in creating it.

Tze
23rd Feb 2011

credits

released February 23, 2011

All music composed, arranged by Tze Toh

Produced by Tze Toh,
Mixed & Mastered by Gao Yang (PAVANE Recording Studio)
Recorded by Gao Yang, Jerdiss Soul and Keith Lee (PAVANE Recording Studio)
Album Cover Art by Yeo Shih Yun

All music performed by Tze n Looking Glass / TO ensemble:
Tze Toh (piano), Dai Da (Er Hu), Lazar T.Sebastine (Carnatic Violin) and Teo Boon Chye (tenor saxophone)

Featuring guest musicians: Bryan Lim (drums - tracks 1,2,5,6), Jennifer Ng (drums - tracks 4,8,9), Shaun Seow (Bass - tracks 1,5, 6, 8 ,9)

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Tze Toh Singapore

Composer-pianist Tze Toh composes for film, contemporary dance, video games, animation/ documentaries, advertising & immersive / experiential projects. He is the founder of contemporary music group TO ensemble.

His works have been performed in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Scotland, the Maldives, Spain, Brazil, France and Japan.
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