Ondulation by Alan Brown

These contemplations and improvisations were partly inspired by an instrument called an Ondomo — a recreation by Naoyuki Omo of the Ondes Martenot, one of the earliest electronic instruments developed in 1928 by Maurice Martenot (Ondes Martenot translated as ‘Martenot’s waves’). For this set of recordings, Alan gravitated back to his primary instrument, the piano, for many of the improvisations, allowing the various background colours to inform the process. The result is an album of great beauty and invention, rich in sonorous textures and equally rich emotional resonances.

Alan is a musician with a long and revered history in the New Zealand jazz scene as a pianist & Hammond organist. He was the bandleader of the successful jazz-funk ensemble Blue Train in the 1990s and the organ-based Alan Brown Trio in the 2000s. He has been an enthusiastic music educator for many years and enjoys repairing vintage keyboards and synths.