It’s been on my mind lately that I have to finish the things I start––for my soul’s peace!

Recently I’ve found myself overflowing with inspiration for different projects, things to research and explore, creative ideas and personal desires. And this is a joyful state of being, for sure! I’m grateful that it’s not a dearth but an excess of inspiration that I’m having to contend with. The problem is that too many new ideas means lots of things crowd each other for my attention. New ideas soon begun are often forgotten and left behind. I have six unfinished books on the go––not ideal! I have an album of music that needs mixing and preparing for release while other musical projects call out to be developed. I’m working on a PhD while new lines of research are constantly springing forth and drawing me away.

In recently releasing my first album of original music (Home in Space––itself a project many years in the making) I’ve really experienced the value of finishing these things I start, of seeing them through to some conclusion. Of really letting them go, giving them away to the world to be taken in whatever way the world will take them. Creative projects are never really done in a final sense. They can always be developed and refined. But there comes a time when I think we must say to them “you’re ready to leave home and be more than I can make you”. And in doing so we free a part of ourselves that has been tethered to them and make space in our lives and minds for the next stage of our creative development. This is true of growing as a person, not just as an artist.

The five pieces on this half-volume have been sitting on my computer for far too long! They were always intended for release––as every recording I make in this process is from before I even play its first note––but they languished waiting for their siblings to complete a full volume of ten. I was experiencing unlistenable cracks and distortion in my recordings (why you’ll notice that some numbers are skipped) and I just couldn’t get ten clean ones at the time and so I gave up. Other things also drew me from this project, other musical and personal pursuits. Number 305 was recorded in October of 2020 right as Melbourne was coming out of its longest lockdown and had been waiting for fulfillment for almost three years. Ayaa, just let him free!

These ones are seeing the light of day now because I do want to return to this ongoing practice, especially to use it to document the creative dimension of my PhD research which is focused on free improvisation. But since at least two years separate the recordings presented here and the ones I’m about to produce, it seemed fitting to split Vol. 19 into two parts to mark the separation of time and intent. Part II is on its way and so continues the project! When next I share improvisations made in this format, I’m hoping to have filmed them too.

This collection contains a curious first––an improvisation recorded live in front of an audience. This was made at the Jazz Lab during a performance for Andrea Keller’s Piano Club in May of 2021 which also featured the brilliant Kade Brown and James Bowers. I was taught by James in high school and Andrea during my honours year at VCA and Kade has been a dear friend and piano partner since we were both 16 so this was a special night for me.

A final note to say that all the photos in the collage for this volume’s artwork were also from that period of 2020-21. It felt right to pair them with this music and I want to close this blurb by remarking on how glad I was to find that I still had them. Rediscovering both these recordings and those photos has been such a joy and is a testament to the value of the gathering and preserving of creative seeds (thank you Rick Rubin for this insight). You never know when something will come to fruition. So collect every idea you have and save them somewhere safe. But don’t leave them too long if they’re really calling to be made into something! But then you have to be smart about how and when you work with them so you don’t spread yourself too thin. Many conflicting forces at play in being creative and living well. Right now I need to survey the projects of my life and get them in order so I can actually achieve them and see them through to some conclusion. Too much left undone weighs on the soul! Wishing you well in managing this for yourself!