WHAT IT IS!

A New Species of Music

Why "Multi-Dimensional" Music? Well, firstly, there is an almost infinite number of styles and idioms within the music, drawing as it does from music on many kinds of different and seemingly-conflicting sources such as jazz, rock, latin-american, pop, classical, baroque, symphonic, ragtime, medieval, funk etc... in other words a mutation and transformation of both modern and traditional music to produce a new species.

This does not mean, however, that a new easily-recognisable style has emerged, as in, say, a new pop group. On the contrary, this new music is "multi-dimensional" in that each piece has its own specific character which can, in perhaps many cases, be more-or-less identified with a recognisable popular idiom; but with the more extended works, such as, for example, the "Rock Sonatas", the idioms are so multi-dimensional that a style label is not applicable.

A more reliable clue to the general idiom of many of the pieces lies in their titles: CRAZY CALYPSO is obviously a type of calypso - though transformed; JAZZCAT is a jazz piece; MOONROCK BOOGIE a boogie; PLASTIC CAKEWALK, ragtime; SUPERSOUL a powerful soul number; ROLLER ROCK, virtuoso rock 'n' roll. But ROCK SONATA No.1, for example, embraces rock, classical, avant garde, funk and new, wild elements particular to the piece, so there is no indication from one piece - or of even several - of what another piece might be like: the diversity is indeed, "multi-dimensional"!

There is also a multi-dimensionality of realisation and performance of this music (the purely musical content enables this): Pieces have been performed/realised in many different versions, for example: solo piano, synthesizer group, live orchestra, pop group, live instrumental, many of them done by the composer.

While in his "M-D" compositions Hellewell has pushed the idioms of popular music to new heights and depths (dimensions!), the music still retains the immediacy, excitement and sheer dynamic energy of todays' popular music: after all, Hellewell has been a jazz, latin-american and rock pianist as well as being a classical musician.

There are now over one hundred compositions, ranging from simple popular pieces through to large-scale symphonic, multi-dimensional works in the new idiom.