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Seeing Red
Dennis Mitcheltree
Label: Dengor Music
Released: 2026
Duration: 00:45:24
Views: 163
Tracks
Far Left; Lapis Lazuli; Undocumented Language; 911; Mortal Coil; Maitri; Tai Time; Brooklyn
Personnel
Dennis Mitcheltree
saxophone, tenor
Johannes Wallmann
pianoJesse Crawford
bass, acousticBILL McCLELLAN
drumsAlbum Description
We’re Seeing Red everywhere: the angry faces on our social feed, on matters of
political opinion(both con and pro), alerts of danger, tribal headgear, and those who
believe they are the true color of blooded American.
Red is perceived as the color of destruction. Yes, destruction can be a precursor to
transformation - just ask Shiva - but existence with a limited color range is not the full
experience, it’s myopic and constraining…and ultimately unnatural and unfulfilling.
Music is a non-specific form of communication(although I’ve experienced many
moments of clear understanding), and is NOT monochromatic. It is capable of utilizing
ALL the colors of the visible AND invisible spectrum. The vibrant sonic colors
representing collaboration, cooperation, understanding and empathy are available on
our prodigious musical palette, giving us the potential to illuminate how we are bound
together as one.
Ancient cultures believe the universe to have been created through sound vibration -
that sound is the expression of ultimate reality. This notion is backed up by the modern
physics idea of string theory, postulating that matter, at its quantum level, is produced by
interacting oscillations in higher-dimensional spacetime. Personal experience at the
sonic level confirms to me it’s capacity to effect the physical, the cognitive, the
communicative, the social and the spiritual realms of existence.
When you hear this music, please think on this…it is the sound of our universe being
constructed.
1. Far Left - most people believe the title is a reference to political ideology…but tenor
saxophonists know that it’s all you need to play the melody of this slow blues.
2. Lapis Lazuli - a seamless mix of 3/4 and 4/4 time interwoven through the form, with a
conventional sounding unconventional harmonic foundation. Lapis Lazuli is a metamorphic
stone of the deepest blue…symbolizing wisdom, truth and self awareness.
3. Undocumented Language - music is a language, and performing it with the calibre of
Johannes, Jesse and Bill is like having an intense conversation…one that is simultaneously
full of meaning, yet impossible to write down. It must be experienced to be understood.
4. 911 - I lived in NYC on September 11, 2001. That day, this composition spontaneously
combusted within me, begging to be released.
5. Mortal Coil - a poetic phrase attributed to Shakespeare. The “shuffling off” of which
consists of shedding the physical body and all it’s earthly foibles to a place of pure soul.
6. Maitri - a Sanskrit term that is the root of all compassion. Loving-kindness, compassion,
empathetic joy and equanimity for yourself and all other beings.
7. Tai Time - written for my 16 year old son, Tai, who is a saxophonist with the potential for
musical skills far beyond my own. Hard driving, deep, fast…and a bit quirky.
8. Brooklyn - it’s a person and a place, reflective of one of the deepest and soul wrenching
experiences of my lifetime. This music burst from me while undergoing the experience - it
wrote itself.
Album uploaded by Dennis Mitcheltree
