All Original music. 1st released 2008. New to Bandcamp in 2023.
1-Monk’s Blues (for Thelonious Sphere Monk)
2-Modern Times
3-Time’s Up
4-Life
5-A Sense Of Loss (for Bob Stata)
6-Impetuoso
7-Lil’ E (for Ian)
8-Prayer Song (for Lena Angeline-Nyerges)
9-Straight From The Heart
10-Tribute
11-Away From The City

First, thanks to our Father, His Son Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit for all things in the universe. Thanks to my wife Kathleen (“The Look In Your Eyes” will be on the next CD), Josh, Elissa, Carina (all have tunes named for them on my 1991 CD “Point Of View” available through my website johnnyerges.com), Paul, my co-Executive Producer & co-founder of NBR Jazz, & all of the Nyerges & Darroch Clans. To the musicians: Clay, Mike, Jeff, Rich, & Evan… you’re fantastic musicians & friends who played with the depth & beauty that I imagined when writing these tunes. Thanks also to engineer Jeff Gilhart and piano technician Jeff Reimer.

Notes:
Try reading “Time” before or while listening to my tune “Time’s Up”

Read “In The garden” & listen to “Life”
“Kids” (two perfect little men!) is about Ian Nelson & little brother Daniel James.
Monk’s Blues has a triplet quarter-note melody, an altered scale, and displaced triplet eighth notes in the second ½ of the head…just ‘cause.
Modern Times is the way I like to play & hear music-melodic, slower, and introspective. It’s not the way the world likes it a lot of the time, but hey…Time’s Up is inspired by the modern writing of groups like Weather Report & The Yellowjackets, & even though we might be in a hurry, we should notice the beautiful things ‘in the moment’. Life…need I say more? A Sense Of Loss was written & performed at a tribute concert for bassist Bob Stata. Impetuoso is for area saxophonist Vince Ercolamento. Lil’ E is for grandson#1-where has the time…? Prayer Song was written in memory of my mother. Straight From The Heart, with irregular phrase lengths & a decidedly non-traditional harmonic structure, features Evan Dobbins on trombone. Tribute was written in the style of and to honor pianist/composer/arranger Don Grolnick who passed away in 1996 & was inspired by “Pools” from his CD “Hearts & Numbers”. His Weaver of Dreams CD is also very beautiful. The closer Away From The City is a little melancholy, and invites the listener to slow down & contemplate the journey. Hopefully, it was a good one.

Poems by Elissa Christina Nyerges

Time
By and by the sun will set and the moon will start to rise,
But the world will still look beautiful to my adoring eyes.
Trees will blossom, leaves will fall, lakes will calm and rivers run,
Beautiful things will be made by artists, beautiful things will come undone.
Glass will break and be glued together, iron will bend and be remade.
Good memories will live on and on, but some of them will fade.
While I sit seconds are passing: I’ve often wondered where they went,
But as long as I’m creating I think my time to be well spent.
So I content myself with think that, though my life may pass,
In a sense it goes on living and forever will it last.

In The Garden
In the garden of my dreams
My aspirations are the grass,
And they brush a sweet reminder
On my toes each time I pass.
All the ripe fruits of my labor
Hang quite heavy on the trees,
And though some are still clinging
Others tumble in the breeze.
The leaves are reminiscences
That shower from above
As they grace my head and shoulders
With compassion, joy, and love.
The flowers are my gifts from God
That shine even in gloom;
Some stretched out to grasp at life
And others yet to bloom.
The blue sky is my limit-
It’s as endless as it seems
As I stare into the sunshine
In the garden of my dreams.

Kids
You were born,
The sun arose.
I too was born then I suppose.
I cried,
You cried,
I cried again,
Now I have two perfect little men!
A heart that pounds when you play the drums,
A heart that skips over smashed-up thumbs,
A heart that stops when you're out of sight,
Listens to you breathe at night,
Sighs every time you pick a fight,
Laughs when you insist your shoes ARE on right.
My life was fine before you came.

"Kids" “Time” and “In The Garden” ©2007 Elissa Nyerges