Musings . . . Stephen Hopkins

A dozen years ago I somehow wound up as Vice President for Governmental Policy for the Florida Chamber of Commerce in Tallahassee, Florida. I was making more money than I may ever see again, lobbying the legislative and executive branches of state government, wearing starched shirts and suits, rubbing elbows with the players in the halls of power; but I was dying inside. After some soul searching--what some might describe as a mid-life occupational crisis--I knew I had to return to music.

A year later I was hired as Music Director of North Florida Community College. I was teaching music again, and I was composing for two ensembles that I directed. Returning to music after five years of working out-of-field was wonderfully energizing! One of the pieces I composed for the NFCC jazz ensemble was "Second Spring." The title speaks to me of a sort of rebirth that I think we can experience in middle age when we reconnect with those things--the ideals, the passions--that motivated us when we were young.

Here's the piano version of "Second Spring." It's the opening track on Meditations in Blue. I think you'll hear that it's a pretty buoyant, outgoing piece. I hope you like it!

Second Spring

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Every once in a good while, I feel like the cat who ate the canary. The Cheshire grin is, I suppose, unexplainable. Sometimes it just happens, and it feels good. Here's a piece I wrote at the piano after moving to State College. It's a 14-bar blues (!), but I think you'd have to be paying attention to even notice it's not the standard 12 bars. I had this catchy little thing in my head that turned into one of the archetypes--almost a cliche--of blues, while at the same time allowing me to expand my melodic and harmonic jazz vocabulary. In the end, it turns out to be a "languid but sassy legato."

Here's track 2 from Meditations in Blue, "Cheshire Blues."

Cheshire Blues

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What glorious fall weather! Autumn is the harvest season--crisp, invigorating days. It's also a season tinged with longing and regret for the passing of summer. Sweet, beautiful sadness mingles with joy.

And so, here (below) is track 3 of Meditations in Blue, "Autumn River." This is probably the simplest of the pieces, yet I think it's one of the most beautiful. My wife Lisa says it's one of her all-time favorites. When we were in Madison, Florida, I had the pleasure of performing this piece on a magnificent Steinway grand piano, accompanying three beautiful, young ballet dancers on point.

Now the first six tracks are available in the various entries of this blog, which together constitute Part I of Meditations in Blue. Here's the recommended order:

1. Second Spring
2. Cheshire Blues
3. Autumn River
4. Ian Grove Blues
5. Gethsemane
6. Midnight (Too Beautiful for Words)

Autumn River

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