Forbidden Drive featuring PRISM Quartet and Joe Lovano set for July 16 release as single, ahead of Aug. 13 release of full album, Heritage/Evolution Vol. 2

Pre-order/pre-save, and learn more about Forbidden Drive.

My composition Forbidden Drive will be released as a single on July 16th in advance of PRISM Quartet’s August 13th of the full album, Heritage/Evolution, Volume 2 on XAS Records, distributed worldwide by Symphonic and Naxos Music Library.  Forbidden Drive features Joe Lovano, who is joined by Ravi Coltrane and Chris Potter on the full album. All three guest artists have contributed original compositions to the album. Read the H/E2 public announcement.

Forbidden Drive is named after and inspired by a trail that runs along Philadelphia’s historic Wissahickon Creek near my home. I tried to capture the creek and surrounding park’s moods, which shift dramatically within a single day and across the seasons. Its towering trees and rolling hills convey a sense of majesty and motion. Late at night, dimly lit lamps along the trail illuminate creepy, gargoyle-laden fountains under tangles of vines. One winter, its trees were encased in ice, transforming the park into a kind of glistening diamond forest. The work features the Grammy-winning Joe Lovano as a musical explorer, responding to Forbidden Drive and its many treasures in a solo part that is almost entirely improvised.

Forbidden Drive is a place where people gather to connect to the natural world. For me, it is also an outdoor refuge where I’ve marked important milestones in my life, from mourning the passing of my parents to proposing to my wife and celebrating the birth of our daughter. In this music, I sought to memorialize the Wissahickon’s beauty, mystery, and abundance.