Philip “Flip” Gordon: Jazz Compositions Volume 2: Zodiac Project: Secrets D’Histoire

Secrets d’Histoire contains jazz compositions written for the Zodiac Project (Volume 1: Philip “Flip” Gordon, PhD: Jazz Compositions: Zodiac Project: Parallel Universe) and adapted from earlier projects while playing music and leading bands both in San Francisco, California and Paris, France.
Philip “Flip” Gordon’s musical journey carried him from United States to Europe over a span of 30 years. He performed, studied and played music with some of the very best and talented musicians of his era. Some of which to name a few: Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Mark Levine, Art Farmer, Harold Land, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, Joe Thornton, David Lieberman and also recognizing his influences: Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.
Originally self-taught, with an active career in jazz clubs, he later studied and attended jazz schools and music conservatories, including: The Blue Bear School of Music and the Jazz School in Northern California, and the American School Modern Music, Scala Conturum Conservatoire and ARPEJ in Paris.
He has performed with his groups, the Out of Nowhere Bands (quartets to sextets), and individually, including: television, radio, music festivals, corporate events, weddings and five-star hotels (Four Seasons, George V, Hotel Triton, etc.) throughout California and Europe. His groups have included outstanding musicians and vocalists such as: Jacqui Naylor, Frankye Kelly, Millicent Woods, David Hartman, Jeff Cressman, Marlin B. Greene, Roscoe Gallo, Jeremy Cohen, etc. (the list goes on and on, too numerous to name here).
Flip was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1953, and choose a full-time music journey in 1994 while living in Palo Alto California; where he was “doubling” his profession with design. Most of the compositions in this Volume 2 follow the principle ideas that culminated in the Volume 1, yet open a wider conceptual compositional range for improvisation. (While living in Paris, he was surrounded by musical “phenomena”; being exposed to many great artists and musicians that were part of his everyday life in the Latin Quarter – just next door to where Miles Davis lived in the 60’s). Two of these compositions: Slowly Going Mad and Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place, are musical interpretations of how one perceives the journey through life. Dream Funk, Metro Blues and Secrets are alignments between the conscious and subconscious reality. Why Don't You Speak Whale to Me? illustrating the connection between telling a story and how it is eventually interpreted when heard throughout the world (similar to the way whales communicate). Blue When Sunny Gets, Cous-cous for Coco, and Three-Legged Dog are impressions about the events and occurrences of daily events in the neighborhoods, parks and streets of Paris. Spring can Hang you up the Most and Skating in Central Park are two of his adapted favorite performance standards (springtime always was his preferred season, and New York… well, you know).
To understand the context for these compositions, it would be useful to refer to: Volume 1: Philip “Flip” Gordon: Jazz Compositions: Zodiac Project: Parallel Universe, as a point of departure. Visiting the website at www.bluematrix.org may also be helpful.
Enjoy!
-Philip “Flip” Gordon
Burgundy, France 2012