Album notes by Tom Clippert

Tracks 1-4:
Personnel: Jeffrey Gabriel Silva, Julie Goldberg, Thomas Clippert
Roddy Ellias is one of the most complete musicians I have ever met. From playing jazz standards, his
own guitar works, and writing lush evocative orchestral scores, Roddy can do it all!
I first met Roddy on a road trip to a guitar festival, where we were both on the line-up. I had heard a lot
about him from my good friend, and his former student, Matthew Warnock. I picked him up, along with
luthier Dan Koentopp and his then new fiance, now wife Anjuli. Matthew Warnock predicted that we
would get along very well, in fact in the years preceding this road trip Matt would frequently say,
Youve got to meet Roddy. It turned out to be quite true. During the course of the road trip, having
not yet heard Roddy play, and yet to hear his compositions, I knew I wanted to play Roddys music. I
asked him if he had anything written for a guitar trio, and he humbly replied, You dont want them,
theyre just a bunch of sketches. A great bond was formed by all on this road trip. The festival turned
out to be a great success. Roddy performed his set on a borrowed Koentopp guitar, and continues to
perform on his own Koentopp guitars.
After returning home, Roddy kindly shared his suite of four trio pieces with me, and they have been a
joy to play.
Evening Sky Dance:
This piece opens with Jeff and me playing arpeggios in 11/8, while Julie plays Roddys haunting lyrical
melody. The piece then changes key, and Julie and I trade places. Roddy is a huge fan of Ralph Towner
and John McLaughlin (I bought him a copy of My Goals Beyond), and I definitely feel the presence of
their influence.
Bone Dance:
This is Roddys picture of skeletons dancing. I am playing the bass line, and improvising a right hand of
the keyboard part, while Julie and Jeff are playing a great dialogue of melodies. At the end Julie takes
over the bass line, and Jeff and I improvise together. Its tremendous fun to play over a great groove. I
cant help but to think of It's About That Time from Miles Daviss In a Silent Way. We had the good
fortune of performing this piece in concert with Roddy, who put all three parts together as a solo, and
played it as a solo at the beginning of the performance. Once our jaws returned to our heads, we played
our version while Roddy improvised a fourth part. We also were blessed to perform this piece with
guitar legend Earl Klugh, who Roddy happens to admire greatly.
Ingenue:
This piece leaves me amazed at Roddys compositional ability to take the listener to another world in the
span of a minute and a half. The recurring melody with a subtly shifting accompaniment reminds me of
Wayne Shorters Nefertiti. The overall mood reminds me of Waynes Fall.
Looking up:

This one is quite a fun ride, with shifting time signatures, harmonics, and activity abundant! Again,
Ralph Towner easily comes to mind, particularly his work with Oregon.
Tracks 5 and 6:
Personnel: Jeffrey Gabriel Silva (track 4), Wesley Hixson (track 5) Julie Goldberg, Thomas Clippert
So much eclecticism is built in to the music of Brazil. There is the rich blend of European structure with
indigenous tradition, much like the melting pot of Jazz. There is so much joy that is reflected by the
rhythmic vitality. The guitar tradition of Brazil is a beautiful reflection of the countys vast tradition.
Laurindo Almeida is one of the pioneers of bringing Brazilian music to the United States. He was equally
adept at both composed and improvised music, holding the guitar chair in the Stan Kenton Orchestra,
and premiering Heitor Villa-Loboss guitar concerto. His Braziliance is one of the few guitar trio
standards on the CD. Its beautiful polyphonic melodies have lived in the hands of many guitarists,
including Larry Coryell, Al Dimeola, and Bireli Lagrene.
Juarez Moreiras Diamantina represents the contemporary developments in Brazilian music. Like much
of Brazilian musics current status, Diamantina does not commit to a single musical tradion, like choro,
baiao, or toada, but rather it blends many musical forms together. Diamantina, or Diamond Land, is the
name of a historic city in Juarezs birth state, Minas Gerais
Deutsche GrammophonTrack 7:
Personnel: Jeffrey Gabriel Silva, Julie Goldberg, Thomas Clippert
Shortly after our formation, we were presented with the opportunity to perform a concert of material
composed by the member s of the Chicago Composers Consortium. Many of the pieces were written
for us for this occasion; the ink was quite wet on a few of them. New music is a challenge when one
piece is involved, a whole set is no doubt the proverbial Herculean task. This experience proved to be
great for the trio, as it presented us with a challenge and took us out of our comfort zone. We sang in
Korean, while playing in another key and another time signature; we played music based on Indian
Classical dance; we played roaring twenties music with edgy modern chromaic harmony; we played
pointillistic Webern-esque music, with a recording of Jeff counting in our ear pieces.
Sylvan Winds by Martha Horst is one of the pieces that came from this project. This piece is one of the
reasons it is so rewarding to work in a group. Martha constructed textures and sonorities with the
guitar that are impossible for one person to do. The piece moves in perpetual motion, with each note
fingered on separate strings of the guitar. At times it is reminiscent of a marimba ensemble, while still
preserving the soul of the guitar.
Tracks 8-10:
Personnel: Jeffrey Gabriel Silva, Julie Goldberg, Thomas Clippert

Years ago I heard the duo recordings by the legendary Julian Bream and harpsichordist George Malcolm.
They adapted J. S. Bachs trio sonatas for pedal harpsichord as a lute/harpsichord duo, with Bream
playing what was originally the right hand of the keyboard, while Malcolm played what was originally
the left hand (with his right hand) and feet (with his left hand). Like many of Breams recordings, these
Bach sonatas remained in constant rotation on my listening. With this as inspiration, it occurred to me
that these sonatas would make great guitar trios. As they were originally for pedal harpsichord, they
lack sustained notes with long durations, making the melodic lines very effective for the guitar, and they
consistently maintain a three part texture.
In our arrangement, we decided to shuffle appendages at every cadence point, rather than have one
member of the group stay on right hand, left hand, or feet for the duration of the piece. This idea
helped to orchestrate the piece. While we each have different sounds and approaches, at the end of
the day we are all playing like instruments. Our different approaches to the various lines resulted in a
unified sound with three distinct voices.
Tracks 11-13
Personnel: Wesley Hixson, Julie Goldberg, Thomas Clippert
Benjamin Verdery has been a dear friend and constant inspiration for many years. He was a big part of
my life during my musical growth, and I had the good fortune of studying with him on a weekly basis.
Lessons were amazing, Ben shared everything, and he makes moving the student forward a top priority.
Ben was so great about sharing everything from his musical path. His guitar playing is out of this world,
and his passion and energy for music is boundless. It is very easy to hang with him and absorb his Ben-
ness. It is very difficult to not play guitar after hanging out with him. Forgetting that he himself is one
the worlds foremost virtuosos, an average lesson with Ben was a tribute to the world of legendary
musicians; he would often say things like check out how Leo Kottke does this, I picked this up from
Paco Pena, change color like Hendrix would do, you know Jeff Beck really goes for it? John
Williams showed me this, isnt it deep when Rostropovich does this? How beautiful is Dinu Lipatti?
Can anyone groove better than Prince? When I stopped seeing him regularly, it became important to
me to perform his compositions. This helped me maintain the connection I feel for him.
Let Go, Now You See It, Now You Dont, Now You Do, and Start Now were all originally solo pieces from
Bens collection of eleven etudes (yes they go to eleven.) Amanda Cook of Great Britains Appasionata
Guitar Trio adapted them as trios. By the time they made it to our hands, Ben had a lot of different
ideas, so he gave them a fresh re-write for the Avanti Guitar Trio.

Let Go:
Quintessential Ben! His music is able to capture beauty with the simplest ingredients. This piece
captivates from the first chord, and develops a simple intervallic melody throughout. Wes and I get to
chase each other with our sixteenth notes, while Julie plays lush melodic chords in a high register. The
piece builds in intensity, and then gradually decays. It strips down to a duet between Wes and Julie, and
then a solo by me.

Now You See It, Now You Dont, Now You Do:
Julie starts with an ostinato pattern evoking the African mbira, using harmonics on the guitar. Above
this, Wes and I exchange descending notes using glass slides on the guitar. The piece then kicks in to a
unique ride of African/Baroque fusion!

Start Now:

More African grooves! This one has a lot of great call and response phrases, which beautifully
celebrate the power of African music. In the middle I end up playing a percussion ostinato, while Wes
and Julie play back and forth. In the solo version of the music, Ben indicates to play the percussion in
the manner of Michael Hedges. Get exact quote here
Track 14:
Personnel: Jeffrey Gabriel Silva, Julie Goldberg, Thomas Clippert
Robert Schumans Abendlied was originally for three hands on one piano. It worked out very well for us,
as has three sections. Each of us gets a pass at the melody, while the other two play chord voicings that
would be impossible for one person.
With a lot of notes on the CD at this point, it seemed clear that we needed a simple poignant melody to
give our listeners a goodnight kiss. I recalled hearing this piece while I was a sales clerk at a CD store,
and it left a lasting impression on me. After doing some digging, I was pleased to learn this was a real
chamber music classic, played by greats such as oboe master Heinz Holliger with pianist Alfred Brendel,
and cello legend Emanuel Feuermann.