Tone Poems
Spoken words by Tony Mango
Piano by Allan Stuart
All works (C) 2026 by ASH
The music came first, and the words followed as an attempt to add definition.
They were not ‘poems’ originally, but prose, and perhaps still are. They were live performance art meant to be spoken by the pianist while accompanying himself with extempore music.
I was playing for a spiritual learning center in Springfield Oregon, and noticed the impact and effect when I started speaking improvised text with improvised music. There was a striking emotional engagemant which seemed worth pursuing.
I spent years trying to bring them to a recorded state that was effective. I realized I needed a voice.
Tony embraced the poems, searched for meaning and expressed them from his heart. Timing, pitch, and rhythm, a watchful eye and musically sensitive ear were his tools.
All tracks were recorded live in the studio. Some we did several takes, a couple were just one time through. Each is an individual whole performance. Tony and ASH will perform them live just as they are.
They are primarily about what you, as the listener hear. I was thinking about the wonders of earth (Geography, Inflow, Silence), personal awareness and spiritual growth (Many Winds, Wanderers, Yin &Yang), and a story about a sailor I once knew (Perfect Ocean)
Each MP3 below has pdf text to the right.