OUT NOW: Dave Douglas & Elan Mehler – If There Are Mountains
If There Are Mountains is the first album by Dave Douglas and Elan Mehler as co-leaders, setting poetry and specifically haiku within the context of improvising music. Douglas and Mehler composed the music of all thirteen tracks between themselves, including four never-before-heard songs: Douglas’ “Arms Folded to the Moon”, “A Thicket of Summer Grass”, and “Life” plus Mehler’s “Barn’s Burnt Down”.
Check out the title track “If There Are Mountains” in this video from the recording studio in New York, courtesy of Mehler’s label Newvelle Records:
Very proud to finally see the CD and digital release of this recording originally made for vinyl-only release on Newvelle Records. Here it is, with four extra pieces!
It was inspiring to work with these words. Enjoy and happy listening!
— Dave Douglas
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“If There Are Mountains” – Original text by Santōka Taneda
If there are mountains
I look at the mountains
On rainy days
I listen to the rain
Spring, summer
Autumn, winter
Tomorrow, too, will be good
Tonight, too is good
