Equipoise - Webster defines it as "a state of equilibrium". The 2nd definition says "counterbalanced" What does this have to do with my music? If you listen to the audio clips the cdbaby has set up, you will hear a group of styles popular to any contemporary artist/musician who plays today. Track #1 could be considered bebop influenced, but certainly does not maintain the 32 bar standard a-a-b-a form. Also, if you're a musician, you can probably tell that I havent' used the usual chords/scales found in standards or bebop tunes. Track #2 could be construed a ballad, but more in the feel of a artist that might record for ECM records. Track #3 aims at the essence of the Latin feel, without pointing to any of its particular styles: that is, bossa, salsa, samba or any other. Track #5 is freely improvised even though the written head gives a traditional feel to the track because it is stated at the beginning and end . Track #6 is a homage to the great Duke Ellington. Track #7 is a duet with Spanish guitar, an instrument (and country) whose sound I have loved for many years. Equipoise has a balanced approach to contemporary styles while at the same time it is original and has a very personal and even eccentric edge to it. Enjoy! For those of you who would also like a few words of a biographical nature without going to my webpage (intermix.org/steve) here goes: I'm a clasically trained jazz musician. What this means is that while I became fully versed in the world of solo classical piano literature, I also had an intense desire to be contemporary. Within a few years after leaving college, I had performed with Saxophonist-Composer Gil Melle at the Kansas City Jazz Fesitval. Later on that year we did a mid-western tour. Three years later, I performed with vocalist and pioneer performance artist Meredith Monk and her group The House in a European tour including Venice's Bienalle, and the Autumn Festival in Paris. Work of a more eclectic nature such as this would characterize my career, influencing my own art as you will hear by listening to these two CD's, Equipoise and Rite of Passage. Again, Enjoy!