Painters Song Listing

Welcome to the jungle. Imagine one of those bigs cats in Rousseau's paintings stalking its prey. No surprise about the story's end. Composed in the summer of 2007.

Inspired by a visit to the Prado and influenced vaguely by my love of the music of Enrique Granados, whose magnum opus, Goyescas, was an homage to Goya. Composed in the fall of 2007.

David Hockney's swimming pool paintings speak to me because of my years in southern California. His study of sun and water is remarkable. This piece paints a techno portrait of Hockney, poolside in the Hollywood Hills on a cloudless afternoon. Composed in the fall of 2007.

An expression of modernity. The elegance of linear simplicity. Composed in the summer of 2007.

This piece envisions Van Gogh in the Luberon, where, a year before his death, he painted The Starry Night. The opening theme on synthesizer is washed by an overlay of dreamy voices suggestive of the swirling colors of that painting. In contrast, the guitars convey the intensity of summer heat and light in Provence. The spasmodic combination of instruments that repeats the opening theme suggests Van Gogh's imminent demise. Composed in the summer of 2007.  

Some of Edward Hopper's most compelling work, such as Nighthawks in the Art Institute of Chicago, shows the paradox of isolation in the midst of urban life in the mid-twentieth century. Nighthawks reminds me of hearing Dexter Gordon perform at the seedy Blackstone Hotel in Chicago in 1982. So this piece, which begins in 7/4 time, affects a sound mildly suggestive of beebop in the big city in bygone years. Composed in 2007.

My interest in Frank Stella did not begin with his famous protractor series of paintings. Instead, it began later, in 1983, when I knew a Los Angeles art collector who owned one of Stella's massive painted aluminum sculptures. It was linear, but Stella had already turned to a new vision that looked like layers of wildly painted snakes made from thick aluminum plates. It is this curvy, colorful, whimsical turn in Stella's work that I envisioned when composing this piece in the summer of 2007.

The Brazilian elements in this piece seemed a good way to express the vitality and exuberance of Lichtenstein's paintings. Bold colors capturing a moment of intense action. BLAM! Recording the piano improvisations on this song was pure joy. Composed in the fall of 2007.

Kandinsky is my favorite artist of the early twentieth century. His paintings have vitality, warmth, and lightness of spirit. And does any other painter have a chair named for him? Composed in the winter of 2008.

A power-pop thrash anthem composed completely over the top, intentionally, in the style of its namesake. After fifteen minutes, this song may leave you craving fame. Composed in the winter of 2008.