The rhythmic structure of this song is unusual, but not hard to understand once you've heard it. It's written in 3/4, but with a double-time bossa groove—essentially bossa in 6/4, with three half notes (quarter notes in the slower tempo) in each measure. Both the melody and changes are very smooth, flowing through stepwise patterns. There is no key center; the melody implies a B minor tonality in the 16-measure A section and G major in the 12-measure B section, but the changes are quite cyclical with few obvious resolutions. The ending vamps and fades on an F6 chord.
On the recording, the New Stories trio plays this song quite simply, without any specific rhythm section figures. This song is available as a melody lead sheet, rather than a piano trio edition as with other songs from this album.
By the time "Circled By Hounds" was recorded, Marc Seales had played on seven albums by saxophonist Don Lanphere. Check out Lanphere's song Stop for another track with Seales, recorded in 1986.
A noted pianist, composer and leading figure in the Northwest jazz scene, Marc Seales has shared stages with many of the great players of the last two decades. He has played with nearly every visiting jazz celebrity from Joe Henderson and Art Pepper to Benny Carter, Mark Murphy, and Bobby Hutcherson. With the late Don Lanphere he performed in such places as London, England; Kobe, Japan; The Hague in the Netherlands; and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Read more...
