John Vanore: ‘Easter Island Suite’

John Vanore’s ‘Easter Island Suite’ takes the listener on a journey to the little-known landscape that was first discovered by Europeans on East Sunday 1722.

Recorded in stages since Philadelphia trumpeter and composer Vanore began composing the four-part suite in 1984, this album inspires the awe one might, presumably, experience first-hand when arriving off the coast of Chile. The album cover features the 1,000 monolithic figures, or moai, that ring its coastline, created by the Rapa Nui people.

On his own Easter Sunday experience in 1984, Vanore began writing his suite. He says: “I was home alone, so I started to wonder, ‘What's the loneliest place on Earth?’ And I immediately thought of Easter Island.”

Although the first movement, Discovery, was recorded for Abstract Truth’s 1990 debut album, Blue Route, under the title Easter Island and soon all four movements had begun to take shape.

After Discovery, which seems to welcome listeners to the initial view, the second movement - Gods and Devils. It seems to pitch members of the ensemble against each other, while Secret Caves begins with the dark sonority of a bass clarinet melody interspersed with guitar and bass phrases until the higher instruments join in the exploration of the island. The fourth movement is Rano Raraku, named after the volcanic crater whose stone was quarried to create those iconic Easter Island moai.

The album comes together as a whole, despite recording dates that stretch over 35 years. Several members of Abstract Truth have remained in the band. The personnel joining Vanore’s trumpet on the Easter Island Suite include Michael Mee (alto sax and flute), Craig Thomas (bass), Ron Thomas (piano), Bob Howell (sax and bass clarinet), Greg Kettinger (guitar) and Brian Landrus (bass clarinet).

Vanore talks about the mystery of the human monuments and how they inspired his writing: “Every time there's been a breakthrough and somebody posits an explanation for how the statues were made or how they were moved, somebody else discovers information that defeats that premise. Where there's mystery, there's always tension, and I tried to capture that element of the unknown.”