NEW GLOBAL ENSEMBLE: DREAM WALKING

New album from critically acclaimed saxophonist Benjamin Boone and violinist Stefan Poetzsch, with their New Global Ensemble, which combines musicians from the United States, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, and Ireland. Dream Walking is a combination of composition and improvisation with strong rhythms throughout. Both a meditation and a celebration, the intuitively conceptual work of the German and American soul-brothers and their international guests is an important record for fans of global experiments and love for Steve Reich, Jan Garbarek, Nana Vasconcelos, Pat Metheny, John Cage or even György Ligeti. Dream Walking combines the talents of six musicians from the United States, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, and Ireland into a cohesive whole. In fact, leaders Boone and Poetzsch surrender any need for primacy to the overall goal: creating fascinating and uplifting soundscapes using a surprising collection of instruments that includes violin, saxophone, live electronics, gyil (marimba), mbira (lamellophone), asalato (two shakers connected by a string), and electric guitar. The mélange of electronic, electric, and acoustic has the effect of both grounding the album here on earth and sending it soaring into the stars, or even into dreams.

Dream Walking was conceived during saxophonist Benjamin Boone’s Fullbright fellowships in Ghana and Ireland. Commenting on the result, Boone said, “We see this album as a sonic journey through whatever our existence is, so our hope is that listeners will be transported to a plain of awareness that engenders reflection, possibility, connection, peace, and a sense of the infinite. We asked ourselves: Why are we here? What is our purpose? The band is called the New Global Ensemble for a reason: We are ‘New’ in that our music is imaginative and original; ‘global’ in that we explore the intersections between the traditional and art music of Africa, Europe, and the United States; and ‘ensemble’ because we do this though dialogue, equal partnership, sonic experimentation, and co-composition.” If as a listener you allow yourself to be immersed in it, the music and the emotional depth of its performers will transport you through layers of memory and subconsciousness. As is true throughout, Dream Walking is the ultimate expression of listening, of musicians so tied together as an ensemble that musical ideas pass from one to another effortlessly, creating music that transcends.

TITLES 01. Invocation 2:48; 02. Splashes And Waves 3:49; 03. Irish Incantation 3:43; 04. Global Interlude 2:54; 05. Variation On A Ghanaian Theme 4:08; 06. The Parting Glass 3:43; 07. Convergence 3:32; 08. Friday Afternoon In Accra 7:37; 09. Exultation 3:44; 10. Dream Walking 3:42; 11. Exploration 1:37; 12. Realization 5:42. Composed by New Global Ensemble, except: (5) and (6), Traditional, arr. by Boone/ Poetzsch; and (2) by Poetzsch, (11) by Poetzsch/Boone. All tracks recorded live without overdubs, except: (5) background vocals, (2) fragment montage, and (11) gyil. LINE UP BENJAMIN BOONE (US) soprano and alto saxophones (2-12); STEFAN POETZSCH (DE) violin, viola, live electronics; AARON BEBE SUKURA (GH) gyil, mbira (2,4,8,10,11); BAFFOUR AWUAH KYEREMATENG (GH) voice, asalato, prempensua (2,5,10); ÓSCAR MASCAREÑAS (MX/IE) voice artist, live electronics (1,3,9,12); ANTHONY MONAHAN (IE) electric guitar, live electronics (1,6,7,9,12). Produced by STEFAN POETZSCH & BENJAMIN BOONE.

Recorded by KRZYSTZOF BURDA, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, April 11, 2023; BEN WANDERS, Wanderland Studio, Limerick, Ireland, May 29-30, 2023; and PENNY SAMUEL ADU GYAMFI, Vivivi Studio, Accra, Ghana, February 24, 2018. Mixed and Mastered by PETER HEIDER, Gartenhausstudios, Erlangen, Germany. Additional Mastering by MIKE MARCIANO, Systems Two, Long Island, NY, USA ©℗One World Records 2025

Gratitude to the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program, the U.S. Embassy Ghana, the Fulbright Commission in Ireland, The University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, the University of Ghana, and California State University, Fresno. Funded in part through grants from Kulturförderung Stadt Erlangen, Kulturstiftung Erlangen, & California State University, Fresno.