Eyes Closed – the simple sound of acoustic guitar and bass, an acoustic album by Dave Wright

Dave Wright and The Band Of Opportunity: Aurora Borealis album art

Dave Wright and The Band Of Opportunity: There And Gone album art

Dave Wright jazz guitar: 9 Dreams album art

Dave Wright acoustic jazz guitar: Eyes Closed album art

Dave Wright jazz rock fusion: Breaking Apart album cover

DAVE WRIGHT: EYES CLOSED

THE SIMPLE SOUND OF ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND BASS

How is it?

Playing music outside, saturated with nature’s essence,
far from settled land, no walls to protect or reflect,
creation and creator seamlessly interwoven …

How is it?

Rich and beautiful, like earth and water! Charged with inspiration, like motes of sunshine. Always trembling on the verge of … anything. Unpredictable. Indescribable. Lovely, inspiring!

And after dark — when the sounds of nature swell and crest, freed from the shackles of sight — then! Then is the most beautiful time to play. The notes become the universe; the universe responds with inspiration, and on until the last notes fade away …

If they ever do.

ALBUM: EYES CLOSED

My passion for playing outside has dragged me, guitar in hand, to many strange and beautiful places — the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the remote High Sierras, ocean-side cliffs. It has given me the experience of playing in situations too beautiful for words — watching the sun rise over Delicate Arch, listening to loons calling at dusk across the Flowed Lands, laying back on warm desert sand as meteors streak across the night sky.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WRIGHT

Some songs on this album were written in these natural elements: Eyes Closed, in a pitch black, wild col between two peaks; Silence Interrupted, above a sun-sparkled lake; Harlem Woods, as a calm night turned into a slow gale; Calamity Creek, to the sound of water rushing through stone channels; Kathmandu, from the sheer joy of being away from the phones and the freeways …

Most of the other songs presented here have also been played outside, weaving aural threads into the warp and woof of the landscape, then dissipating without a trace. I invite you to conjure in your mind a place of natural beauty, and then listen with eyes closed to the simple sound of acoustic guitar and bass.

LINER NOTES

Dave Wright: Acoustic Guitar
Bernie Heveron: Acoustic Bass
Scott Bradley: Trumpet (on track 16)

This album is dedicated to my son Dustin, who has been a great companion on wilderness adventures. Dustin was there as some of these songs were written, and played them with me in their natural setting. Some of the other songs have specific dedications:

‘Moth’ was written for Zachary Littlepuss Rex, a cat that most humans could learn from.
‘Shayle’ was written for my daughter Ashley, who’s climbed a few peaks of her own by now.
‘Heartstrings’ was written on Valentine’s Day for my lovely wife Pam, who has also crossed a few mountains with me. “Three times worse than any triathlon!” she said as we limped into camp.
‘Dust in the Air’ was written for Dustin when he was still knee-high to a grasshopper. He now carries the backpack that used to carry him.
‘Fifty Happy Notes’ was written by Bernie Heveron for his sister Elaine’s fiftieth birthday; the melody does consist of exactly 50 (happy) notes.

Recorded at Studio X, Pittsford, NY. Engineers: Dave Wright and Bernie Heveron. Photography by Dave Wright. Cover: Haystack & Little Haystack from Mount Marcy. Produced by Dave Wright for HMC Jazz, Fort Nurney, SD, 2004.

TRACK LIST

1. Eyes Closed (Wright)

2. Silence Interrupted (Wright)

3. Moth (Wright)

4. Harlem Woods (Wright)

5. Fifty Happy Notes (Heveron)

6. Calamity Creek (Wright)

7. Norwegian Wood (Lennon/McCartney)

8. Sparticus (North)

9. Shayle (Wright)

10. J‘Zoic (Wright)

11. Remember When (Wright)

12. Heartstrings (Wright)

13. Dust in the Air (Wright)

14. Kathmandu (Wright)

15. The Nearness of You (Carmichael)

16. No Moe (Rollins)

17. Dear Prudence (Lennon/McCartney)

STREAM THE WHOLE ALBUM

Click the ‘Play’ button below to listen to “Eyes Closed” in its entirety. Check out the great performances captured in the studio, and then come check out Dave Wright in a live performance!

Purchase the album for only $9.99 and receive bonus content!

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