As it casually explores the trombone's timbres, The Webster Cycles is at times lush, at times stark. Mobile-like in the way that phrases and individual notes drift in and out and twist as if blown by the wind, it is something of a musical conundrum: comfortably adrift in a sense of motionlessness yet definitely propelled by a sense of forward motion. From moment to moment, an individual voice calls out or a crowd murmurs or voices unite in contrapuntal or parallel efforts. Like the music on the composer's previous Cold Blue CD, from shelter (CB0018), The Webster Cycles blends the abstract with the idiomatic. Pure tones hang serenely in the air as trombonist J.A. Deane's lively ornaments and articulations that acknowledge his instrument's long association with various types of jazz.

"Peters’ music … has in abundance what I miss in so much new American music: strong commitment to an aesthetic goal, and adherence to that goal without compromise. …Bring on more Steve Peters! —Sequenza21

“Pure, restrained and rigorously beautiful.” —Alvin Curran

As it casually explores the trombone's timbres, The Webster Cycles is at times lush, at times stark. Mobile-like in the way that phrases and individual notes drift in and out and twist as if blown by the wind, it is something of a musical conundrum: comfortably adrift in a sense of motionlessness yet definitely propelled by a sense of forward motion. From moment to moment, an individual voice calls out or a crowd murmurs or voices unite in contrapuntal or parallel efforts. Like the music on the composer's previous Cold Blue CD, "from shelter" (CB0018), The Webster Cycles blends the abstract with the idiomatic. Pure tones hang serenely in the air as trombonist J.A. Deane's lively ornaments and articulations that acknowledge his instrument's long association with various types of jazz.

The composer:
Steve Peters is a composer/sound artist who, drawing inspiration equally from the experimental tradition and a wide range of the world’s musics, readily integrates improvisation and open forms into the work he creates for dance, theater, radio, public spaces, and concerts. In addition to performing as a soloist, using an array of acoustic and electronics instruments, environmental sounds, and amplified natural and/or found objects, Peters has worked in many collaborative contexts—touring with vocalist Anna Homler and sound artist Steve Roden and performing with composers David Dunn and Christopher Shultis; vocalist Marghreta Cordero; electroacoustic composers Francisco López and Steven M. Miller, and saxophonist Tom Guralnick. Peters is also a founding member of Gamelan Encantada, a Javanese/ American ensemble that performs both traditional and contemporary music. With choreographer/writer Lane Lucas, Peters has produced several critically-acclaimed works (Faith, Ground Luminosity, and Shelter). He has also received commisions for music and sound design from many other choreographers, including Nora Reynolds and Bill Evans, Kagami Butoh, Deborah Slater, and John Carrafa. With visual artist Barbara Grothus he received a commission from the City of Albuquerque to create Celebrating Nature: The Landscape Underground, a permanent neon light and sound installation for the Albuquerque Convention Center. Other recent installations include The Alchemy of Desire with visual artist Christine Wallers, at the Historic San Ysidro Church in Corrales, New Mexico; Confluences: Songs of the Rio Grande and its Tributaries at the Albuquerque Museum; Emanations with visual artist Claire Giovanniello at the Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque; and Hereings, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. His works for radio have been aired on internationally syndicated series. Peters’ music has been released on the Cold Blue, Palace of Lights, Trace Label, Sirr, O.O. Discs, effe, and Pianíssimo labels, and a CD and book documenting his Hereings project was published by La Alameda Press.

The performer:
J.A. Deane is a composer/performer (trombone and electronics and … ) whose eclectic credits include more than 40 recordings with such artists as Jon Hassell, Butch Morris, Brian Eno, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, and even Ike and Tina Turner, and performances at more than 80 international music festivals. He also has created award-winning sound designs and scores for more than 50 plays, including works by Sam Shepard, Christoph Marthaler, and Joseph Chaikin. For 25 years, Deane has collaborated with dancer/choreographer Colleen Mulvihill, creating more than 40 interactive sound and stage environment works, and in the late '90s he formed the music and theater ensemble Out of Context, a group that utilizes Butch Morris's "conduction" techniques. Deane, who currently lives in New Mexico, builds many of his own electronic and acoustic instruments, and studies bio-acoustics, using low-frequency sounds to stimulate healing.