The complex interconnectedness of rivers and the surrounding environment is defined as Riversphere. This concept shares similarities to the interconnectivity between musical genres, the players, the listener and the performance itself. The collective experience is achieved through a shared flow state.

My aspiration with ‘Riversphere’ is to blur the boundaries between improvised and written composition. If the music of this group is the river, the musicians are its tributaries and the confluence, where they meet, becomes the flow state. As rivers and tributaries are infinitely mutable, so are the possibilities for different musical incarnations of Riversphere.

This debut recording features a flexible ensemble of between two and six musicians. The creation of this collection of pieces was a ruminative process spanning five years. The album balances five improvisations created to sound as if composed and five compositions created to sound as if they were improvised. In attempting to merge and blur these seemingly opposite musical forms to transcend the distinction between the two, the result embraces composition and improvisation, spontaneity, and tradition, the past and the present and everything in-between.

As I turn over the word ‘Riversphere’ phonetically in my mind like a mantra, it begins to sound like ‘reverse fear’, a sentiment which also relates to the trust and courage involved when making music with and performing music to others.

Iain Ballamy – tenor saxophone

with

Rob Luft – guitar
Nick Pini – double bass
Corrie Dick – drums