About Me
Bill Brennan’s expertise as a pianist, percussionist, composer and producer can be heard on some 130 albums to date. His newest album “Kaleidoscope – Music for Mallet Instruments” has received numerous award nominations. Tom Allen of CRC Radio’s “It’s About Time writes “Bill Brennan’s Kaleidoscope is perfectly named - a constantly shifting, twirling, entrancing and enchanting swirl of beauty and fascination.”
Latest News
"Dreaming In Gamelan" is a singular collaboration between two stalwart Canadian composer/ multi-instrumentalists Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill. This body of work offers an unconventional perspective on West Javanese gamelan music, finding a fertile middle ground between Brennan's extensive immersion in this tradition (as a member of Toronto-based ensemble Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan) and McNeill's enduring wide-eyed fascination with it.
The roots of this album date all the way back to 2001 when filmmaker Carol Moore-Ede, for the CBC program The Nature of Things, had the idea of using the gamelan to accompany her documentary "Surgeons Of The Future," after seeing a performance by Evergreen Club. Not so long before that, Brennan and McNeill had met through their mutual friend and fellow artist Andrea Koziol, discovering a considerable overlap in their musical interests, despite their markedly different musical backgrounds. When CBC music supervisor Patrick Russell, approached McNeill to work on Moore-Ede's score, he jumped at the chance for it to be a collaboration with Brennan.
Brennan's membership in Evergreen Club granted him access to the ensemble's formidable collection of instruments, which he and McNeill set up in his living room for a week to record on a portable setup. These hand-forged, hand-carved gamelan instruments were made by the renowned Javanese maker Tentrem Sarwanto from Surakarta (Solo), Central Java. Sarwanto was particularly known for his work in bronze instruments and his instruments were sought after for gamelan ensembles worldwide.
The initial recordings were brought back to the studio for subsequent mixing and overdubbing. One of the key overdubs was contributions from (electric) violinist Hugh Marsh, one of Toronto's most beloved and versatile players. Marsh has appeared on recordings by the likes of Jon Hassell, Joseph Shabason, Bruce Cockburn, Bauhaus' Peter Murphy, and Mary Margaret O'Hara, in addition to releasing discs of his own. True to his chameleonic nature, Marsh's violin inhabits various spaces on "Dreaming In Gamelan," from playing a more conventional role akin to the rebab in the gamelan tradition to providing everything from plucked punctuations to kaleidoscopic washes, from chirping col legno crickets to expansive orchestral swells.
Now, almost a quarter century later, and following a high-profile performance of some of the music at the legendary Massey Hall by Evergreen Club, McNeill and Brennan have revisited these sessions to construct this compelling release. Sections were expanded upon using both composition and electronic treatments, augmenting the music’s rich, detailed textures and ethereal atmospherics. Of the album’s ten works, the first nine are vignette-length pieces that explore various compositional tactics while maintaining the balmy atmospherics inherent to gamelan degung. Some of these shorter works build gentle interlocking matrices of percussions that bubble around the listener, sometimes even creeping toward Balinese gamelan-level density. Certain moments are far sparser and more delicate, whereas others gesture toward the album's 10-minute closer, a diffuse and sumptuous expanse where instruments and electronics fuse together. With Ron Searles' vivid Dolby Atmos mix of the album, its surreal enveloping qualities come even further to the fore.
Available on all your favourite streaming services (Apple, Tidal, etc.). Click below to listen.
The album can be purchased from the following URL: https://brennanmcneill.bandcamp.com/album/dreaming-in-gamelan
For more information on the artists visit:
Available on all your favourite streaming services (Apple, Tidal, etc.). Click below to listen.
Catch Bill discussing Kaleidoscope here.
You can hear more from Bill on his YouTube Channel.
Check it out!
Let’s Talk
Send me a note and I'll get right back to you.
Contact Us
Blog
My first blog – on my new website. Firstly, thank you to Loren Kielly at Mileonedigital ( https://www.mileonedigital.com ). Loren designed the site and gave me such great advice on what’s necessary, not necessary, colours, font, content and so much more. A big thank you to MusicNL for assistance with this venture. Part of the reason for the site is to get my original music online and presented, so that others, who are interested, can access it and play my music. With that in mind, and in this Covid time, I am especially happy to provide mp3s for my percussion and piano works, so that those who are interested in learning them can play along with tracks that I developed. In essence “music minus one/interactive” tracks are available for many of my compositions. For those who are planning to perform them with other musicians in the future, they can at least play along with the tracks until it is safe to be in the same room rehearsing with others. I have enjoyed making music with friends online, though it isn’t nearly the same experience live. However, it’s been great to collaborate with Andrea Koziol (my long time friend and collaborator, and an incredible singer and songwriter), Ana Luisa Ramos, Renee Antle, Julia Halfyard, Abra Whitney and Bruce Alcock (thanks for asking me to write the music for the Pay Pal commercial!). It has also been great being in contact with friends and colleagues across the country, many of whom have been a tremendous inspiration during this challenging time. For example, Darrin Oehlerking who teaches at the University of Regina and Jason Caslor who teaches at Arizona State University (and others) have been a guiding force with regard to teaching wind ensemble in the fall. What am I going to do – well, I think Bandlab.com is going to help (check it out). And my colleagues at Memorial University have been super inspiring to me. Everyone is working really hard to make the fall a special experience for our students. I have a few fun projects upcoming. I am a little bit of editing to finish on a wind ensemble piece and hoping for publication some time soon. Fingers crossed for a couple of fall concerts (New Found Music at MUN and Jazz East Big Band), and more songwriting with Andrea Koziol. Today I recorded an old chestnut – “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”. Don’t forget – I’m not a singer, but I do love singing an old standard. https://soundcloud.com/bill-brennan/i-wonder-whos-kissing-her-now?fbclid=IwAR3qN3g6iRAaRrSlCwg_APCR3IbRxSwLmI-7OLg5Slhg1QFH3f-f1lRFwLc Enjoy the site. Stay safe all. Bill