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Over forty years in the making, this is my debut solo album. I started playing drums between the ages of seven and ten, and I recorded this album in my fifties. By the time of this recording, I never performed a solo show. I never recorded solo, but also, as a listener, I prefer albums by groups. As a musician, I appreciate the help of artists and kindred spirits who stream in their ideas, who push and pull the music and me in surprising directions. I have always preferred live interaction, the collective creation of group improvisation, playing inside of a music that is much larger than the individual players. At the same time, I had played solo for over forty years. That playing called “practicing” is usually solo, and it is where I developed my language on the drums. Solo is, in many ways, how I became a drummer, and how I continue to evolve as one. Recently, some people I trust encouraged me to make a solo album. So, I worked out a compositional structure for a series of improvisations and recitations. I worked on it conceptually and on paper but did not rehearse the piece more than twice. I rehearsed it only to get a sense of the compositional arc and journey. Some early listeners to the album asked me if I played everything on it, and several wanted to know if there were any overdubs. This music was recorded in a single take live in the studio, without redos or overdubs, performed once from start to finish. I played everything you hear. The recitations were also done in one take, but they were recorded separately over the music. Although I have been playing music for many more years than I have been writing and teaching political theory and philosophy, I am mostly known for my books. That makes sense to me. But I want to state clearly and unequivocally that, for me, my musical and philosophical work belong to the same lifelong interest in human freedom and the same commitment to emancipation from the nightmares of the capitalist world. I name this album "A Fierce and Gentle Force," because, in many ways, that is what I aspire to be as a person and a musician. Richard Gilman-Opalsky - drums, percussion, wood flute, and recitations
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