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Vandana is the duo collaboration of bassist Bill Koehler and Tablist Manpreet Bendi, Whos' interests range from contemporary classical music, to jazz, to world music and the music of india, and to the fusion of eastern and western musical languages. The duo has grown out of a four-year friendship and artistic relationship, and as a result, they have developed a common musical language that allows for adventurous explorations in an array of tonalities and meters, as well as in open and fixed forms, as the structure of the compositions often dictate, In our music, the compositional structures of Western Contemporary Classical music and Jazz are combined with the improvisational and complex multi-metric rhythmic structures of Indian Classical music. In addition to being of great interest musically, this group travels easily. The duo can be enlarged to a trio or quartet setting depending upon interest.

Read Review from Double Bassist

 

1.  Oracle - Quartet - trumpet, electric piano, double bass, drums (B. Koehler, B McEntyre) 10:04

Oracle is predominantly in 7/4, and is based on two tonalities (G lydian dominant and A major mirror).   Bob opens and closes the tune with a deception in 4/4. 

2.  Another Place- Duo - double bass, drums  (B. Koehler)  4:08

Another Place is a happy waltz for bass and drums.  Even though the piece is in 3/4, the rock music of my youth inspired me on this one.

3.  Moment - Duo - double bass, drums  (B. Koehler)  4:22

Moment, an Indian/Arabic influenced piece for bass and drums, sets up a dreamy, contemplative  mood.  We hope you find it ìhipnoticî. 

4.  Sail Away - Quartet - trumpet, electric piano, double bass, drums   (T. Harrell)   11:12

Sail Away, by Tom Harrell, is a ìbossaî tune.  I have always been a fan of Tom Harrellís playing, and when Kyle suggested playing it, we did.  This was the first and only take! 

5.  Least of These - Trio -  trumpet, double bass, drums  (K. Gregory)  12:13

Least of These, written by Kyle Gregory, is a deeply  beautiful composition written in the Aeolian mode for trumpet, bass and drums.

6.  Soliloquois #5 - for Solo Double Bass  (Roque Cordero)  10:18

Soliloquios  for Solo Double Bass is a contemporary piece by Panamanian-born composer Roque Cordero, written in 1981.  Roque Cordero wrote a series of Soliloquies for members of the music faculty at Illinois State University.  I have had the pleasure of  working with him on a number of  works including the premier of his string trio Three  Permutations 3 (vln, vc, db) and orchestral works.  Roque Corderoís music is extremely  exciting and is always written with the idiosyncrasies of the particular instruments in mind.

7.  Concert Study #10 - for Solo Double Bass  (Annibale Mengoli)  3: 57

Concert Study #10  for Solo Double Bass by Annibale Mengoli is a Romantic work in A  Minor featuring bowed double stops and cadenza-like passages.

8.  Storyteller -  Trio - trumpet, double bass, drums  (B. Koehler)  8:10

Storyteller is an angular tune for bass trumpet and drums, with the melody predominantly in  double stops.  The piece has an extended progression for improvisation which uses the feature of common-tone modulation.

9.  A Child is Born - Solo Double Bass  (T. Jones)  3:59

A Child is Born, a well-known standard by the late Thad Jones, is performed here for solo  bass with the melody and harmony in double stops.  This piece  represents the quieter and  more introspective moods in Jazz.

10.  Rupolding Songbirds - Solo Double Bass  (B. Koehler)  1:01

Rupolding Songbirds for solo double bass is a very short Requiem  for my Aunt Irmgard. The somber mood is conveyed by the use of harmonics in the upper register of the bass.

11.  Doxa Mea - Duo - double bass, drums  (B. Koehler)  3:23

Doxa Mea (my thoughts) is a hymn-like tune for bass and drums, with the melody played  predominantly in double stops. 

CD - Total Time: 73:12 

Sheet music for the six original compositions on Glimpse as well as other transcriptions by Bill Koehler for double bass can be obtained from Schorer Publishing Co., M¸nich, Germany.  In addition, the CD Glimpse is distributed in Europe by Schorer Publishing Co.

Comments on Glimpse:
I have heard your CD entitled Glimpse and all the songs are very melodious. The choice of instruments is wonderful and the songs are very pleasing to the ear. The song Moment is very beautiful and listening to it brought back memories of our performance together at ILSTU.


            - Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman  - Mridhangam - Master South Indian Drummer


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