The Tonal Garment of the Word

Featuring 22 poems spoken by Kenneth Mills, with the music of American composer Tim Janis, some of the poems being created spontaneously during the recording.

“The small group of guests assembled in Kenneth Mills’s formal music room was greeted with the following improbable, yet highly charged, situation: The composer, Tim Janis, seated on the floor amongst audio equipment, with tapes of his compositions brought to accompany Mr. Mills’s poems, as yet unseen by Tim. For his part, the poet, seated on a chair with microphone and earphones ready, had never heard the music to which he was about to read! A few bars were played through earphones. The poet said, ‘That’s enough. Let’s begin!’” – Michael Small, Film Composer

“Full of sound, eloquent thoughts, delicious music.” – The Book Reader

“Cosmic compositions such as ‘The Sound of a Star,’ ‘Do You Realize?’ or ‘The Creek’ are love poems of a different sort, expressing a love of life and a sense of wonder at this world.” – New Age Voice

“There is a radiance, a dynamism that runs through this entire CD, that makes the mind want to stretch to meet the words and music. What is thrilling is that the poetry says, in effect, that we are music and, as such, we are as fundamental as a single tone and yet in harmony with the Universe. Poetry and music like this take hearing with more than the ear.” – Audrey DeLaMartre