TJ Martin’s ‘The Judge at E’ features
music designed for equine events
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By ROSS BOISSONEAU
Record-Eagle features editor
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TRAVERSE CITY — Whatever the genre–classical, rock, blues, country — one
thing all music has in common is the audience: human beings. TJ Martin’s new CD
is a bit different, ‘The Judge at E’ is not only for people but for horses, it is music
for dressage. Martin was a devotee of the sport which has been called equine
ballet for the movements demanded of horse and rider. But one thing always
bothered him: The clumsy segues between the pieces of music that were adapted
for the event. “I thought I could eliminate that by having original music”, he said.
So that’s what he set out to do. Enlisting a 15 piece ensemble including saxophone,
flute, trumpet, keyboards, percussion and his guitar, he composed seven pieces of
music. Not only were they meant for dressage, the pieces were composed
specifically for individual riders and their mounts, though for the most part they
could be adapted for others. “The recording session was done very differently, TJ
sat in front of a video (of the horse and rider performing) playing his guitar”, said
John Knight, owner of Full Circle Recording Studio where the project was
recorded.
The pieces on ‘The Judge at E’ run between five-and-a-half and six minutes, with
the exception of a catchy 2-minute, 40 second tune called “Samson’s Prelude”.
The music embraces many genres: There is gentle romanticism, sprightly folk,
jazzy interludes, even some quasi-flamenco. It holds together surprisingly well as
an instrumental, acoustic new age disc.
“Chilled out and floating!!”
“Nice mood”
Delicious!”
“Solid performing”
“Quite beautiful”