Downtime

Description

Synthesis is a musical melding of some of the finest musicians at Brigham Young University. Drawing freely from the various styles of Afro-American music, the ensemble has become known for versatility, spontaneity, and creativity in performance.

Welcome to our musical tour of Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania! We are excited to share with you the musical energy of our live performances for the people of the Baltic States and Scandinavia. Synthesis has had the privilege of sharing America’s music—jazz—with many countries of the world, including Japan, China, Brazil, Russia, and much of Europe. We need no translation when we play; people everywhere feel and love jazz, and much goodwill has been fostered through our performances.

I have tried before to record the band at the end of a tour with no success because of our being jet lagged and brain-dead. We decided this time to bring good microphones and record every concert and see what we could get. Thankfully, Jeff Carter traveled with us to engineer these recordings. It’s amazing that he took these sounds from mostly outdoor performances—in shopping plazas and even in the woods. I hope you enjoy these recordings as much as we enjoyed playing these amazing tunes.

—Ray Smith, director.