Coming-Going
Winter Songs
A two volume, 54 song retrospective,
featuring the Celtic colored soundscapes and chamber music of
Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning (together with friends.)
November 2022
Key-man and producer Jeff Johnson and longtime friend, flutist Brian Dunning have been crafting fluid-festive-haunting, sacred-cinematic, Celtic-colored (largely) instrumental sound-scapes for some 35 years. Johnson uses electric and acoustic piano, together with sampled sounds rhythms, and ambient layers to build the underlying structure (i.e. river bed) while Dunning’s melodic and sometimes percussive flute lines flow in, through and over each composition like water.
Coming, Going.
Music for the epic journey
This sweeping 32 song retrospective features compositions from 16+ albums. Many of the tunes are pulled from works “inspired” by the medieval-ish fantasy worlds of author Steven Lawhead (with titles like Albion, King Raven, and Eirlandia.) The binding theme: Sojourn--with aural allusions to battle and dazzling discovery. That said, there is something about this collection that runs sober. It is not without brilliance or joy, but should delight travelers who find pleasure in the gray-blue of twilight.
Winter Songs
Music of heart, home, and sanctuary
By way of contrast, the 24 song Winter/Christmas collection plays both brighter and more festive. (i.e. more live.) It strikes me as the perfect soundtrack for living out Advent, surrounded by friends, fire, or--as the Spirit gives liberty-- a mug of mead.
* Until the advent of streaming, I always made sure to bring a Johnson/Dunning Christmas CD to family gatherings. It was my way of fanning a sacred focus, without being shrill.
Long Play:
It started with a review and a cassette. The year was 1982; I was 22. Campus Life Magazine highlighted Jeff Johnson’s album “The Face of the Deep.” I was intrigued by the album art and the reviewer’s description of a lyricist who referenced the likes of Gauguin, Rodin (the Thinker), and preacher-philosopher Francis Schaeffer. When I bought the tape I was taken aback by the many approaches to voice and sound. Johnson mixed direct recordings of nature with madrigal moods and Moog synthesizer(?)--Something like a blend of ELO, Bach, and touch of Styx. I followed every review thereafter, adding each new Johnson release to my growing collection of cassettes. Johnson even seemed to release higher quality tapes than the average mass-market fare!
A decade in, I sent Johnson my first fan letter, along with some photos that he might consider for future album use. I didn't offer anything he needed, but he graciously responded by sending me my very first physical CD--Songs from Albion, an instrumental collaboration with “Celtic-jazz” Flutist Brian Dunning.
And now, some thirty years later, I find I’m baptized in all things Johnson and Dunning. I’ve traveled with the duo across wind swept moors, to Byzantium, and on to the Orient. I’ve tread with them into battle, or upward into the sublime. It was with some sadness then that I absorbed the news that Johnson's long time friend Brian Dunning, passed away in February of 2022.
Johnson said, “I am deeply grieved to share the news that the great Irish flutist, Brian Dunning, passed away peacefully this morning after a two month illness. We first met and started working together in 1986. The music we made and the friendship we shared were gifts that I will keep in my heart until my own time comes.
He was one of the most accomplished players to ever play the flute – a true genius of improvisation and melody. His music shot out like a waterfall and drenched all of us who had the honor and great pleasure in playing with him and listening to him.
He was a true friend – dedicated, thoughtful, gracious and ever humorous--Countless were the evenings of stories and jokes that left us all with aching stomachs from laughing so much!”
My first listen, I am mesmerized by the opening track; Coming-Going (hear it here) is haunting and spare and speaks to a thin-walled world.
From here on out, I am swept in a river of memory. As a long time Johnson fan, I am familiar with many of these tunes, spread across CD’s. Many come with distinct images of place and light.
Confession: I have read only one Lawhead book. And so, I turn instead, to the scenery at hand. The year is 1981. I live in a college flat with my bride and newborn daughter. I am playing Songs from Albion (Volume 1) -- I imagine Vikings or Scottish moors, because I think I should. Then the Aegean Sea (or whatever body of water is being traversed) gives way to a sea of sweeping Oklahoma Tallgrass Prairie.
The year is 2003. I am riding, windows down and decibels up, through the winding and virid greens of an Arkansas Ozark Spring. It feels a lot like the Ireland of Patrick!
A storm is brewing. I put on the CD Byzantium, a battle hymn joins with thunder.
It is November 2022. I have come full circle. I am curving (once again) through the autumnal hills of the Arkansas' Ozarks to a “Flight of Ravens” --my heart alive with the many places I have traversed inside this music.
At 56 songs strong, the audio wallop of these two collections is massive, but according to Johnson represents a fraction of their combined output. I asked Johnson how he came to the final collection.
Johnson: While Brian was featured on many of my solo albums, I only drew from the recordings that are listed as by “Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning” including the ones with John Fitzpatrick, Wendy Goodwin and the Coram Deo Ensemble. I tried to pick two - three pieces from each one so these retrospective albums only represent about 20 - 30% of our entire recorded catalog.
Me: Did you use a specific criteria for what you included?
Johnson: Most of the choices were personal preference. I tried to pick songs that retained a certain musical longevity. I spent a lot of time sequencing the choices so that there was a logical musical flow. In other words, a listener could listen to the albums in their entirety and not have the sense that they were listening to a compilation album!
Me: What role did Brian play in the composition process?
Johnson: For most of the years, it was a 50/50 collaboration with both Brian and myself bringing ideas to whatever piece we were working on in the process. You have to remember that Brian was an extraordinary “jazz” player, so a lot of the things we ended up with came from hours of recording together in the studio.
In the later years - particularly the chamber albums with Wendy Goodwin - I initiated and organized many of the compositions. But both Brian and Wendy were very involved in the actual lines and solos that they contributed.”
In closing I asked Jeff how it has been to assemble this work, in the wake of such loss.
Johnson shared: The whole process was emotional for me. I miss Brian terribly and have found myself feeling completely adrift these past months. Yet, I’m glad I did this. It was quite something to consider the extraordinary body of work we produced with one another over the years. I was also very pleased how the new song (Coming, Going) came together and that violinist, John Fitzpatrick was part of it.
There will never be another Brian Dunning. I’m fortunate to have not only made music with him for so long but to have enjoyed his love and friendship all those years.
Confession: I have read only one Lawhead book. And so, I turn instead, to the scenery at hand. The year is 1981. I live in a college flat with my bride and newborn daughter. I am playing Songs from Albion (Volume 1) -- I imagine Vikings or Scottish moors, because I think I should. Then the Aegean Sea (or whatever body of water is being traversed) gives way to a sea of sweeping Oklahoma Tallgrass Prairie.
The year is 2003. I am riding, windows down and decibels up, through the winding and virid greens of an Arkansas Ozark Spring. It feels a lot like the Ireland of Patrick!
A storm is brewing. I put on the CD Byzantium, a battle hymn joins with thunder.
It is November 2022. I have come full circle. I am curving (once again) through the autumnal hills of the Arkansas' Ozarks to a “Flight of Ravens” --my heart alive with the many places I have traversed inside this music.
At 56 songs strong, the audio wallop of these two collections is massive, but according to Johnson represents a fraction of their combined output. I asked Johnson how he came to the final collection.
Johnson: While Brian was featured on many of my solo albums, I only drew from the recordings that are listed as by “Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning” including the ones with John Fitzpatrick, Wendy Goodwin and the Coram Deo Ensemble. I tried to pick two - three pieces from each one so these retrospective albums only represent about 20 - 30% of our entire recorded catalog.
Me: Did you use a specific criteria for what you included?
Johnson: Most of the choices were personal preference. I tried to pick songs that retained a certain musical longevity. I spent a lot of time sequencing the choices so that there was a logical musical flow. In other words, a listener could listen to the albums in their entirety and not have the sense that they were listening to a compilation album!
Me: What role did Brian play in the composition process?
Johnson: For most of the years, it was a 50/50 collaboration with both Brian and myself bringing ideas to whatever piece we were working on in the process. You have to remember that Brian was an extraordinary “jazz” player, so a lot of the things we ended up with came from hours of recording together in the studio.
In the later years - particularly the chamber albums with Wendy Goodwin - I initiated and organized many of the compositions. But both Brian and Wendy were very involved in the actual lines and solos that they contributed.”
In closing I asked Jeff how it has been to assemble this work, in the wake of such loss.
Johnson shared: The whole process was emotional for me. I miss Brian terribly and have found myself feeling completely adrift these past months. Yet, I’m glad I did this. It was quite something to consider the extraordinary body of work we produced with one another over the years. I was also very pleased how the new song (Coming, Going) came together and that violinist, John Fitzpatrick was part of it.
There will never be another Brian Dunning. I’m fortunate to have not only made music with him for so long but to have enjoyed his love and friendship all those years.
Thank you Brian and Jeff, for priming our souls for worlds beyond.
*****
Jeff Johnson - Ark Productions, Home Page
Coming-Going on Bandcamp
Winter Songs on Bandcamp Photo illustrations by Kirk, care of Arkansas Tourism.
