Liner Notes

Quiet Shadows is my musical, reflecting on a soldier on guard duty in Viet Nam.

Guard duty began while it was still daylight, late in the afternoon.  One particular day I recall began as always, arriving at the bunker and inspecting the surroundings to try to become familiar with them before the fall of night.  However, this bunker was situated near a very strangely shaped tree, which I immediately sensed would fool me later into mistaking it for an enemy soldier.  I tried to memorize its' shape, but, sure enough, when night fell, I knew that the tree trunk was a person.  My apprehension overcame me, and I shot up a flare.  Rather than calming my fears, I continued to perceive other shapes as dangers in the darkness, which in the morning daylight proved only to be natural growths of nature in the jungle surroundings.  

The performer represents that soldier alone at night with his thoughts. This work has no restrictions on the performer's interpretation of these thoughts other than the notes themselves. Dynamics, tempo, metric timing, and bar lines are none existent except in the mind of the performer and his/her individual frame of reference.

My purpose with this work is to create an interactive performance with the instrumentalist bringing his/her own emotional interpretation to my personal thoughts about this significant event represented by the notes on the page.

As a composer, music allows me to express personal thoughts on my life experiences and provide commentary on my external world.

In 1969, I put on the uniform to be a soldier in the United States Army. I served on the battlefields of Vietnam in 1970 and, as a veteran, supported our service members through the USO at several military bases in Afghanistan and Kuwait in 2009 and 2012. 

For Quartet For Serving While Black, I developed several of my past musical motifs into a single quartet that was inspired by reflections on my service in the military as a Black man and to honor other Black service members, the women, and the men who came before and after me.

The opening section suggests leaving home, followed by indoctrination and training to become an American soldier. This is followed by a syncopated section reflecting soldiers' pride in being a part of something larger than themselves. A third slow section speaks to the sacrifices that are inherent when you serve your country. And in the last section, several motifs portray soldiers returning home as Veterans, with a sense of contribution to the fabric of America---yet at the same time realizing that as Black Americans, the American way of life would be quite different for them.

My Cousin Alice Faye gave birth to Tupac and struggled to cope with life's challenges. She joined the Black Panthers, got addicted to drugs, and could not hold a job. She moved with Tupac to Baltimore to live on welfare with our Aunt Sharon. I returned from Vietnam and subsequently graduated from music school. Tupac became a world-known artist though according to our Aunt, his gangsta persona was a facade to sell records. As his life is celebrated and he is idolized after his sudden but inevitable death through violence, we sometimes lose sight of the complicated family dynamics that shape the eventuality of our destinies in life. 

Looking back on my life and family, I  realize that the tragedy of our family tree stems from our paternal grandfather, Walter Williams Sr. (who I am told),  preached from the pulpit with my grandmother in one pew and his mistress in another. This quartet is my musical response and anger, realizing, as with Ralph Waldo's lamented proverb:  "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

A Veterans’ Lament was composed as part of the string quartet “Into The Liquid”, commissioned by the Ethel Quartet in New York City in 2013.

It is the third chapter titled “Adult Years” and is orchestrated here for a full orchestra to continue the composer's mission to use music to bring visibility to veterans and their services