This new recording has been 49 years in the making. Ever since I first heard the original recording of Ralph Towner’s best-known tune in 1972, I’ve been captivated by it. It changed my musical life and altered my career by showing me my classical training could be utilized to play contemporary, popular music. Over the years I’ve sought out various recorded versions of Icarus and I’ve performed it numerous times, in various instrumentations. While I have long wanted to record it, it wasn’t until recently that I felt ready to offer my own arrangement.

I wanted to pay homage to the original 1970 Paul Winter Consort recording, the rendition that Ralph Towner wrote and arranged in less than an hour after a short jam session with Collin Walcott in a motel room and that he said in an interview is “still the best version of Icarus.” The beginning of my interpretation is inspired by that very first recording. But I also wanted to put a new, jazzier spin on the tune and utilize the string technique of trill-glissando to illustrate in tone-painting the legend of Icarus. (My friend and mentor the late David Darling utilized this device in his many performances of the tune with Paul Winter.)

The ancient story, from Greek mythology, is of Dedalus and his son Icarus, who are imprisoned on the Isle of Crete. To escape, Dedalus collects bird feathers, and with hot wax, crafts wings for his son and him to fly from their captivity. Dedalus cautions Icarus not to fly too low or the sea’s surf will dampen the wings and weigh him down. He also cautions against flying too high, as the heat of the sun will melt the wax.

The two prisoners take flight and escape from their incarceration. Icarus, elated and experiencing euphoria at flying, soars higher and higher, his father’s words of caution unheeded. Soon, just as Dedalus had warned, Icarus’ wax wings begin to melt from the sun’s heat and he realizes that his flapping arms are in vain as he descends from the sky and plunges into the sea.

As the tune progresses, the electric violin illustrates the initial flight of Icarus and Dedalus, and at the end, we hear Icarus fly high only to plummet downward to his demise.

A cassette of the Paul Winter Consort album Road, which featured the original recording of Towner's Icarus, was taken to the moon with the Apollo 15 astronauts and a lunar crater was named for the iconic tune and its mythical character.

Nick Bariluk engineered this new recording in his New Song studio and provided the keyboard parts, including the exquisite improvised piano solo. Bob Leonard performed all of the percussion tracks, and Dan Asher remotely provided the acoustic and electric bass parts. I play acoustic violin, viola, and electric 5-string violin.