PERSONNEL & CREDITS: Bill McBirnie – flute, alto flute (tracks 3 & 14) & piccolo (track 9) Bruce Jones – guitar, vocal, percussion & synths Compositions – by Bruce Jones (SOCAN); except tracks 3, 5, 9, 11 & 13 by Bruce Jones & Bill McBirnie (SOCAN) Produced by – Bill McBirnie & Bruce Jones Co-Produced by – Martha Cisneros Recorded at – Da Da Music, Toronto, Ontario Engineered by – Bruce Jones Edited & Mixed by – Bill McBirnie & Bruce Jones Mastered by – Pacy Shulman at Hilo Studio, Toronto, Ontario Cover Photo by – Gongbass Layout, Design & Manufacturing by – Staci Patten, Accurate Audio, Toronto, Ontario Bill plays a Wm. S. Haynes flute, a DynaLance headjoint (made by Guo Musical Instrument Co.), an Armstrong alto flute and a Gemeinhardt piccolo. LINER NOTES: Bruce Jones and I first collaborated about 15 years ago on my debut album, Desvio (which was subsequently nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award). This initial recording project came about as a consequence of working regularly with Bruce's Brazilian rock band, Da, and as a further consequence of dressing tracks for Bruce on his various Da, Amazon Dreams and other recording projects. After a while, I had done so much work with Bruce (whose songwriting I always admired) that I suggested to him, “Maybe we should try and do a flute-oriented project.” To my surprise, Bruce was more than happy to oblige and that suggestion evolved into our first album, Desvio, which he dubbed “extrema flauta” (and which we anglicized as “Extreme Flute”). Our musical paths diverged thereafter but, about a year ago, Bruce asked me to do some dressing for a couple of tracks he was working on. This went really well and, in the course of doing so, I learned that Bruce had a lot of material in various stages of completion on his hard drive. Once again, I suggested to him, “Maybe we should extend ourselves and do another flute-oriented project.” Yet again, Bruce was happy to oblige and Grain of Sand is the result. As fate would have it, this project has evolved into another incarnation of Extreme Flute! Bruce is—and always has been—enormously talented, on multiple dimensions. Musically, what he does is ostensibly Brazilian (in no small measure because he was raised in Brazil). However, he combines that rich musical heritage with many other influences, ranging from rock & roll and hip-hop to new age.  For me, the big draw in working with Bruce has always been both the diversity of his material and his openness to improvisation (which is what I like to do most of all). These features of his work have always provided us with a solid basis for collaboration—both then and now. A project of this nature—involving just the two of us—takes considerable time to complete and so it inevitably proceeds in stages. Each track starts with Bruce writing, playing and recording whatever idea he has in mind. After Bruce has laid down what is often a fairly complete track, we then overlay any flute melodies he has in mind. In addition, we conjure up shots and harmony parts and overdub these. After that, we go back and I improvise over the entire track. Finally, we take whatever we have (...which is typically far too much...) edit it and mix it down. Of course, we “subtract” far more than we “add” as the process unfolds until sooner or later (...usually later...) we find what we're after. The end result of this most recent collaboration, Grain of Sand, is both a fitting theme and title, because there always has been—and there always will be—a lot more from wherever this came. Finally, Bruce and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Canada's premier jazz station, Jazz.FM91, for including “Tudo Bem” (a track from our first collaboration, Desvio) in their spin cycle for what is now close to 15 years! Bill McBirnie grão de areia sâo mais de sete billões de estrelas que brilham na noite de lua cheia e eu sou só um pingo de agua e eu sou só um grão de areia e a chuva que cai o vento vem, maré tambem a onda quebra, e eu tambem o vento vem, maré tambem eu sem você...eu sem nimguém... grain of sand there are more than seven billion stars that shine in this moon-lit night and i am just a drop of water and i am just a grain of sand and the rain falls the wind blows, the tide comes in the wave breaks, and so do i the wind blows, the tide comes in i'm without you...i'm all alone... ONE SHEET: Grain of Sand Bill McBirnie & Bruce Jones (Extreme Flute – EF07) GRAIN OF SAND: Fifteen years after the release of their first collaboration, Desvio, Bill McBirnie and Bruce Jones team up once again to produce Grain of Sand, a fresh, new incarnation of “Extreme Flute” featuring, once again, Bill in his singular capacity as “flautist extraordinaire” and Bruce in his multiple capacities as composer, vocalist, performer, arranger and engineer. The results (which consist entirely of originals) are alternately joyful and plaintive, hypnotic and dreamy—yet consistently incantatory. Grain of Sand will resonate with listeners whose tastes range from samba to ambient, from urban to jazz. Desvio, was recently (albeit belatedly) nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award (TIMA) in the Best Instrumental Category. Just a little good karma will ensure that Grain of Sand does at least as well! BILL MCBIRNIE: Despite a rather uneventful musical beginning in the small town of Port Colborne, Ontario, Bill has attained an international standing as one of the finest flutists in jazz, even though he rarely sets foot outside his domicile of Toronto, Ontario. Bill's longstanding commitment to the instrument has earned him unqualified accolades as well as awards, here in Canada and abroad, including Flutist of the Year (Jazz Report Award), Best Jazz Album (Toronto Independent Music Awards) and a Best Jazz Album nomination (Independent Music Awards in the USA). One of Bill's notable achievements is that he is the only flutist to have ever clinched a “triple crown” at the National Flute Association in the USA, winning all three of the jazz flute (1) Soloist, (2) Masterclass and (3) Big Band competitions. As a testimony to his singular place in the global flute community, Bill was personally solicited by Sir James Galway in 2005 to serve as the resident Jazz Flute Specialist at Sir James' official web site. BRUCE JONES: Over the course of many years, Bruce has integrated Brazilian, rock and other folkloric elements into an ongoing series of unique and personal musical statements. Although Bruce grew up near Sao Paul, Brazil (where he studied formally at the Academia Paulista de Musica), he ultimately settled in Canada (where he continued to study performance and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music). Both his North and South American roots have resulted in a singular musical sensibility that has attracted a dedicated following of fans and musicians alike, including some of Canada’s finest jazz musicians who have admired the originality of his work and, for that reason, sought to play in his live bands, Cocada and Da. Indeed, two of Bruce's earlier recordings (Canada Eh! and Sarava Criola), were designated by journalist and critic, Andrew Sun, as "...among the most fascinating Canadian records ever made..." Contact: Bill McBirnie – Extreme Flute Phone: (416) 652-1541 E-mail: extremeflute@look.ca