If you’re reading this, you’re probably not like me. I almost never read liner notes. I’m not a big fan of words and I also don’t like to talk much. This may be the reason why music as an art form most resonates with me. I wish I could offer some insights into the meaning of the music contained in this album, but I can’t. I believe the meaning is mostly created by the listener, you. So if you think you know what this is all about, please let me know!

By now you’ve probably realized that these liner notes are completely useless in your endeavor to find out more about this album or myself, so in an attempt to mitigate your disappointment I will give you some facts about this album:

It was recorded in Mount Vernon in the Bronx not far from where we live. One reason why I chose these particular musicians is because they’re all around my age and live in my neighborhood in uptown Manhattan (except Sasha, who is younger and now lives in LA). They are also all firmly rooted in the Jazz tradition, but not afraid to move away from it at times. All the music was composed by me, except “With a Song in my Heart” (not to be confused with “I let a Song go out of my Heart” by Duke Ellington), which is an old Jazz standard and was composed in 1929 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the musical “Spring is Here.” My arrangement on this record features a reharmonization and is in 5/4 meter.

There are a couple of short compositions/interludes on this album. The original idea was to have interludes in between the main songs, in order to reset the emotions of the listener for the following song. One of them “Land of 1000 Blues” is a short blues and quotes “Land of 1000 Dances” (written by Chris Kenner, but the quoted part was actually added later, first in the version by Cannibal and the Headhunters and then also in Wilson Pickett’s version). Another short interlude, “Invisible” was just an in-between-takes improvisation by Kenneth and Tivon.

Most of the titles were added long after I composed the music and therefor are sometimes a little bit random. Some titles are New York themed, like for example “Big Apple,” “Bodega,” and “MTA.” “June Tune”was in act written in June. “Room 1102” and “The Fifth Floor” are inspired by Baroque prelude style (think J.S. Bach’s preludes in “The Well-Tempered Clavier”). “Room 1102” was my dorm room for a while, when I did my master’s degree at CCNY.

I never lived on the fifth floor.

—Jakob Dreyer, New York City, June 2025