Joe McPhee - tenor saxophone, voice
Kirk Knuffke - cornet, voice
Christof Knoche - bass clarinet
Michael Bisio - bass
Jay Rosen - drums

Recorded Mixed and Mastered by Jim Clouse at Park West Studio in Brooklyn NY on April 4th 2022

The Session
The day started out a little different - Park West Studio is in Brooklyn and so am I. It's not too far, but I would need to take the subway and walk a bit so I decided to make it easier on myself and take a cab. When I got in the cab, I started to space out and think about the music. The ride seemed like it was taking too long, and I regained consciousness and asked “are we going the right way?” The cabbie got short with me and said we were almost there. He stopped and I got out and he sped away; he had dropped me off in the completely wrong place now even farther from the studio than I started out! This has never happened before, and I even asked the guy before I got out to tell me the address he had in his GPS. So I had to find another cab, which in that area wasn’t easy. I ended up late to my own session. I’ve never been late to any session, let alone my own!
But this energy made it into the music somehow, this crazy morning. Jim the engineer was ready to go and we were tracking the first track within minutes of my coming through the door. It was like walking in while already playing. The music took off on an amazing flight. The first 6 tracks are presented in the order they were recorded exactly as the day unfolded. The other compositions and trios were recorded after a short pause.
Joe and Michael missed each other at a park-n-ride that morning and they were also late, but not as late as I was. After the session, Michael joked, “We should always be late!”


To “Keep the Dream Up” is advice my wife Madeleine gave me. The subject of dreams became a part of this project. For starters it has always been my dream to record with Joe. We have played gigs for years in trios and quartets but a record had yet to be made until now. I chose the name for the recording but hadn’t told the guys yet when Joe said it was “a dream given form.” A marvelous coin.......
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