Aftermath

Titles for textless pieces usually come to me long after their composing; Aftermath is a case in point. Written as an exercise on the model of Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti,” with the added challenge of mode mixture (in rough terms, minor versions of ordinarily major chords and vice versa), this was totally new territory for me in 1973. For most of 30 years it lived with “Lament” penciled on the header; at its 2002 premiere it received its current inked title. As with “Pinocchio,” Aftermath keeps its melody intact through multiple repetitions; the ‘development’ comes via building comment and complexity around and beneath it.