Matt Lavelle & The 12 Houses - The Crop Circles Suite: Part One

Liner notes:
In the mid 90’s I exiled myself from the straight-ahead jazz scene in NYC to upstate New York where the trees ruled the land. I had met a spiritual teacher who had become a mentor, Stephanie Gouveia. I had questions about who I was, and especially what life was. During this period my playing was only sporadic so that I didn’t lose my trumpet embouchure completely. I spent most of my time studying metaphysics, numerology, astrology, tarot, and beyond. I was invested in trying to figure out life just as much as I spent the majority of my adult life on a music quest. During this period I learned about the Crop Circles phenomenon. The sacred geometry inherent within them gave me a connection to music through yes, the math. An idea was born in me back then to one day double down on the metaphysical properties in the numerology of the Crop Circles in music, but how?

The 12 Houses were formed originally with the idea to one day reach a point musically where we could go all the way in, or out. The 12 Houses are the 12 houses of astrology. My original idea was for 12 musicians, one representing each sun sign by way of birth would comprise the band. I first sought out musicians for their sounds and when running their astrology charts I had to abandon that level of specificity, though maybe someday I can achieve it.

In 2022, the 12th year of the orchestra after hundreds of live concerts and 2 studio recordings in 2017, Chad Fowler made it possible for the dream and idea I’ve had since the mid 90’s to finally manifest. In the universe’s usually maddening methodology, it was the Covid pandemic that gave me the time and resources to write the music. While Crop Circles 7-12 are still in development, 1-6 presented here, are my life’s work. The Music is the meaning of my life.

In order to vibrations the Crop Circles are showing us, we have to start somewhere, and what we're doing here is taking the math in music to the extreme, one number at a time. Time signature, bar lines, melody notes, chords, and intervals especially, are all based on the numerology of the piece. All of these tools have been used for a very long time of course, but we’re looking at each one up close and staying on it. You could say this is the beginning of the establishment of a new paradigm. You could say that by doing so, we are attempting to make eye contact with God and thus to look inside their mind without going insane. The Crop Circles suite is an attempt to musically see, feel and understand human life, as we are attempting to tell the story of the human race-especially in the future. The deeper realities of our true and future existence contain art, science, and some natural chaos in good measure.

Music is the bridge between science and art.

Matt Lavelle: Bass and Alto clarinets, pocket trumpet. Compositions, arrangements, and conduction

FIRE/SPRING (Zodiac)
Lee Odom: soprano sax, flute
Charles Waters: Alto sax, clarinet, flute
Ras Moshe: Tenor sax, flute, gong
Claire Daly: Bari sax, flute

EARTH/SUMMER
Matt Lambiase: trumpet, flute
Nicole Davis: trumpet
Art Baron: trombone, didgeridoo
Ben Stapp: tuba

AIR/FALL
Mary Cherney: flute, bass flute
Cheryl Pyle: flute, alto flute
Stephanie Griffin: viola
Claire De Brunner: bassoon

WATER/WINTER
Christopher Forbes: Piano
Hilliard Greene: bass
Jeremy Carlstedt: drums
Jose Luis Abreu: percussion

WIND/RAIN
Jack DeSalvo: Guitar, banjo, oud

Recorded October 29th and 30th 2022 at Scholes Street Studio in Brooklyn, NYC by Rene Pierre Allain