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Jeff Johnson is a journeyman musician who has released dozens of
recordings of instrumental, vocal and children's stories on his own Ark
label. His music always had an imagistic feel, which was why he was
approached to create an imaginary score to the first book of STEPHEN
LAWHEAD'S "SONG OF ALBION" fantasy trilogy. He brought in Brian Dunning,
the flute player with the Celtic band Nightnoise to help him create a
mythic soundscape.
For Jeff Johnson, the inspiration comes from his arsenal of keyboards. A large bedroom in his Camano Island home in Washington is a recording studio where he keeps a baby grand piano and his synthesizer orchestra. "I think I'm really good at being able to kind of fill the spectrum and come up with good sounds and kind of make these textures go in and out and keep the listener interested," he says modestly. I mean I think I'm good at doing that, putting a listener in a place and I enjoy doing that." Born in 1956, Johnson created Ark studios in 1976 and began making his own records. Much of his music is spiritually driven by his Christian faith. |  |
| In the mid-90s, Johnson and Dunning recorded the acclaimed MUSIC OF CELTIC LEGENDS on Windham Hill, followed up by Jeff's ambitious TALES OF ST. BRENDAN on Hearts of Space. Their latest CD together is BYZANTIUM. | |
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Although he's Irish through and through, Brian Dunning makes no
claim to Celtic music. Instead, his first love is jazz and that's what he
spent his youth playing until he met former Bothy Band member, Michael
O'Domhnaill, then living in Portland Oregon. With Michael's sister, Triona
and violinist Billy Oskay, they formed the group Nightnoise, which went on
to record several acclaimed and influential albums for Windham Hill,
helping to define a Celtic chamber music sound and spur the Celtic craze of
the 1990s.
Brian moved back to Ireland a few years ago, but he continues to collaborate with Jeff Johnson. |
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| Songs of Albion I |
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| Music of Celtic Legends: The Bard & The Warrior |
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| Byzantium |
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BACK TO SONIC SEASONINGS 2000
JONN SERRIE
IRA STEIN & IRINA MIKHAILOVA
DEAN AND DUDLEY EVENSON