John Hood
Impressions Of Giverny
© 2006 John Hood
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Two suites dedicated to a couple of my favourite people. Claude Monet, the French painter. Father Thomas Merton - Trappist monk, prolific author.
tracks
- 1 Dream
- 2 Arrival
- 3 Winter
- 4 Giverny Blues
- 5 Madamoiselle Hoschede
- 6 Lightly Now
- 7 Impressionist Rag
- 8 Monet's Garden
- 9 View From A Trappist Monastery
- 10 Foxes (Matt. 8:29)
- 11 Parable
- 12 New Seeds Of Contemplation
- 13 It Seems You Went Away too soon.
- 14 Solitude/Entertaining Angels
- 15 An Errand In The Outside World
- 16 A Monk's Simple Prayer
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- JOHN HOOD: Glenn Gould and the North/John Fahey and the South
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- JOHN HOOD: The Words in Red
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notes
This album is inspired by two precious people.
French painter Claude Monet, whose work can be found in many different places around the world. You will see him on walls, prints, calendars, cards and sometimes even the real thing if you are lucky! Monet spent the latter part of his life at Giverny. His beautiful gardens are still maintained for public viewing.
Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, whose insight into the human condition jumps off every page of his books. I just love his "New Seeds Of Contemplation".
This is a contemplative record, some people might call it ambient, some may call it spiritual. Two suites of eight tunes each.
Impressions of Giverny: I suggest you try
1. Dream - quiet finger picking, with a hint of electric guitar.
4. Giverny Blues - playing the minor blues on a jazz archtop guitar.
8. Monet's Garden - a nice ballad.
For Thomas Merton: Maybe listen to
9. View from a Trappist Monastery - nice ambient acoustic feel.
10. Foxes (Matthew 8:20) jazz/blues
11. Parable - quiet nylon string piece
14. Solitude - especially the Entertaining Angels section
16. A Monk's Simple Prayer - can't describe this, I wrote it years ago. It just seems to fit beautifully here.
A word about my music.
Technically I am a blues guitarist who is trying to write beautiful music. I try to take people to new musical places.
I would say that it is
- unique, I've yet to come across a similar style
- all original
- has a blues/jazz/soulful, sometimes even a spiritual feel
- contains either solo or overdubbed pieces
- sometimes features blues harp, slide guitar and synth
Most of my albums are instrumental and feature extensive improvisation. I like writing suites, it enables me to focus. I'm more interested in sound than songs. I listen mostly to string quartets, classical and occasionally blues and jazz.
If you are in any way interested in what I was playing in my youth, I have over six hours of my early bands playing blues/jazz/rock in Perth, Western Australia in the 60's and 70's. These are in MP3 format, and available for listening and/or download, at my website.