Bang on a Can

I bought my brother a compilation CD called Classic Rare Groove for his 30th birthday. On it is a cut of Patti LaBelle doing a cover version of Cat Stevens' "Moon Shadow." In the middle of the song, she goes off on a huge long riff, like a bizarre rant, and a few lines are: Have you ever lost your mouth or anything in that small area--your lips, your teeth, your tongue, your tonsils, the throat, everything around there. You'd be in deep stew. That's where I got the title for this piece. Deep Stew was commissioned in 1994 by the Composers Association of New Zealand for their 20th anniversary celebration. Because the piece was meant to be celebratory, it was an excuse to be upbeat. And since I'd been thinking for a while that I should try to figure out the relationship between my own music and the music that I listen and dance to, I decided it was okay for my music to have a groove. It's funky in a spoofy way. I'm not a true funkster, much as I'd like to be. I've spent too many years being a classical musician. But I listen to a lot of funk, and I recently rediscovered this obscure band from the early seventies--The Peddlers--that my dad has on cassette, with all these cheesy solos that people played on the Hammond organ. When I heard it again, I thought, 'This is really cool. My dad was a groover!' The music that gives me pleasure is this kind of physical music, but I feel caught outside of this world of music. It's a strange place to be. --Juliet Palmer