The four-movement work was performed by a 19-piece ensemble called Rob Reddy's Small Town, which featured some of the most respected performer/improvisers in New York, including Pheeroan akLaff, Guillermo E. Brown, Charles Burnham, Curtis Hasselbring, Oscar Noriega, Dom Richards, Brandon Ross and Mark Taylor. The music was funded by the Individual Artists Program of the New York State Council on the Arts and supported in part by a grant from the Jerome Foundation.
“Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer's 'A Winter Night' finds its subject reading, with closed eyes, 'the book of the storm,' a phrase that struck a seriously dense chord in me and inspired this piece, which is based on the broad impact of storms throughout human history," Reddy explains.
“From the ancient 'great flood' stories in the Old Testament, the Quran and several other cultures past and present, to the modern day storm that left thousands ignored and displaced, almost completely destroying a great American city. From the moral and religious storm that has unleashed its attack on science and rational thought and continues to seep through the cracks into public policy and law making fueled by its bigotry and superstitions, to the personal storms of my own and those close to me, as we continue to wade our way through today's world as creative artists."
Critics have called Reddy “a versatile and adventurous saxophonist" (Scott Yanow, All Music Guide) and “an impressive and open-minded tunesmith" (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com), noting that he “sounds, and dares to sound, like no one but himself" (Brian Morton, Jazz Review). The Book of the Storm is his sixth recording as a leader and the first to feature him conducting his own music as a non- performer.
In addition to leading his own groups, Reddy has received grants and commissions from a number of organizations as a composer, including a new book of music based on his 2006 release, A Hundred Jumping Devils (Reddy Music), which he will premiere in late November at TPAC. His newest ensemble, Rob Reddy's Tenfold, will make its debut this October, performing music commissioned by the American Composers Forum every Friday night of the month at Brooklyn's Jalopy Theater.
Click here to read a March 2007 feature in New York's Downtown Express about the world premiere of “The Book of the Storm."
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