PLEASE NOTE that the CDs do not contain the chapbook; you’ll need to purchase that separately. Many thanks!

“Harnetty frames Merton's humane eloquence with discreet and dignified music… The monk's voice remains vital and apt; the settings are just right.” — The Wire (UK)

WORDS AND SILENCES is a music portrait of the Cisteritan monk and writer Thomas Merton (1915-68). It brings together archival recordings Merton made alone in his Kentucky hermitage in 1967, along with newly composed music. These remarkable recordings are intimate, ranging from Merton’s thoughts on Samuel Beckett, to Sufi mystics, to the Louisville race protests, to Michel Foucault. He also managed to immediately use the tape recorder both as a contemplative tool and a medium for self-discovery.

The album often feels like a one-person play, with an exchange between Merton and the ensemble. There are also subtle references to the music Merton loved throughout his life, including Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Buck Owens, Louis Armstrong, and Jimmy Smith. Brass and wind instruments evoke the attentive breathing of meditation, and the piano shares distant echoes of Merton’s love for early Kansas City Jazz pianists, from Mary Lou Williams to Albert Ammons to Meade Lux Lewis.

Merton’s words still feel relevant today, both in terms of the solitude and reflection experienced during the pandemic, and of the demand for racial justice happening across the country. His work shows how the movement and tension between contemplation and action are not opposed; they complement one another. In all of this music, we hear Merton’s curiosity, questioning, and bewildered perplexity. We also hear the tape recorder itself, acting as both a mirror and counterpart to Merton’s voice. We hear the exposed, vulnerable, uncertain self of Merton sitting alone in his hermitage. And, we hear all kinds of contradictions—between past and present, inward and outward, living and dead, time and space, everything and nothing—and we can move between them, hold them together, and listen as they melt into each other.

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The bonus instrumental tracks here present all of the music from WORDS AND SILENCES, without the voice of Thomas Merton. The music provides a powerful and subtle counterpoint to Merton’s voice. And yet, it stands on its own, offering the listener rhythmic patterns, static and ambient harmonies, and many spaces for reflection. This music is also great for driving, looking out of windows, quietly sitting on the front porch, walking across fields and forest paths, and careful up-close listening, too. Each track is inspired by the wide variety of music that Merton loved throughout his life. In each case, Harnetty transcribed fragments from this music and worked with them to create starting points for his own ensemble. The results are distant references and echoes of the music that Merton himself might recognize, but are transformed into Harnetty’s own music voice.

credits

released October 7, 2022

Musicians:
Katie Porter Maxwell, Clarinet / Bass Clarinet
Jeremy Woodruff, Flute / Alto Sax / Bari Sax
Phil Rodriguez, Trumpet
William Lang, Trombone
Brian Harnetty, Piano

Mastering: Cauliflower Audio
Design: Colorquarry

Words and Silences was commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts and was supported through a MAP Fund Grant, and artist residencies at Marble House Project (Vermont) and Loghaven (Tennessee).

All sampled recordings by Thomas Merton, from New Directions Publishing Corporation, acting as agent. Copyright ©2022 by the Trustees of the Merton Legacy Trust. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp, and Now You Know Media.