Sketchbook

Tim Keyes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 17, 2011)
• Original Release Date: July 29, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: API Records
• ASIN: B0000AZVAA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,748,406 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Big Intro

2. Higher Ground

3. Gain The World

4. (If I Could) Paint The Rain

5. Long Nights

6. Missing You

7. How Can It Be?

8. Could This Be Love?

9. All I Can Give

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Tim Keyes is a 1984 graduate in Music Composition and Music Theory from The University of Notre Dame. During college, his talent as a composer emerged big time. In fact, the success of the third movement of his String Quartet No.1 and the second movement of his Six Pieces for Piano landed him a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied composition, conducting, and performance with Charles Jones, Leonard Bernstein, and Andre Watts

Rock n' Pop

First stop? Boston, where Tim Keyes was a session musician and toured with the original rock band PAR 3. Next? New York City, of course. There, he launched his studio engineering and production career, working with major label-recording artists including The Throbs, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, Sammy Merindino, Jon Mover of GTR and more. Then, he honed his engraving talents by working Warner Brothers as a sheet music transcriber.

And through it all, composing, singing, and producing:

Worlds Apart (1991) Rock/pop solo album with 11 tracks of anthemic rock touching themes of escape, frustration, longing, and change.

On the Radio (1995) Rock/pop solo album produced with keyboard wizard, Chris Fischer and veteran producer, Kevin Ferd. This album features some of Tim's finest song craftsmanship, including the well-received single, "All I Need is You."

Sketchbook (New Release! Spring 2003) A solo album that defies easy classification, this collage of songwriting and sound effects takes listeners on a fantastic journey

Sacred Sounds

Not for nothing did Tim Keyes graduate from Notre Dame. He has yet another full identity as a church musician and choral director. He has revitalized church music programs at several parishes by organizing choirs, developing parish orchestras, launching concert series, and conducting major events.

And through it all, composing, singing, and producing:

In Psalmis Davidis (1998) 100 Settings for the entire Sunday lectionary psalm cycle. Resurrexi (1996) Full-length Easter Oratorio, requiring 3 choirs, soloists, and full orchestra. Nativitas (1999) Full-length Christmas Oratorio, requiring chorus, 5 soloists, orchestra, and chorus. Performances requested every Christmas season and the greatest selling release to date.

Crucifixus (2000) An a capella treatment of Tenebrae and the Seven Last Words of Christ. Recorded by the Tim Keyes Consort.

Because of Tim's vast knowledge of both popular and classical music, he's frequently asked to lecture at seminars on the music business and often advises churches regarding their music programs, organs, and music spaces.

Conductor and Vocalist

Tim Keyes is often invited to conduct various New Jersey choruses and orchestras, and is in demand as a vocalist throughout the state. He's an active member in the both the National Pastoral Musicians and the American Choral Directors Association:

• Music director for the East Coast debut performance of Marty Haugen's The Song of Marka large-scale, Broadway-style production based on Mark's Gospel. (1997) • Debuted The Battle: A Concerto for French horn and Orchestra, which was composed, for an International Horn Society competition. Soloist: Lisa Nettleship, (1998) • Music director for production of Rory Cooney and Gary Daigle's composition, Lost and Found. (2000) • Tenor section leader in the Diocesan Choir of the Metuchen Diocese, member of the 16-voice Schola, and Cantor for various diocesan liturgical functions.

Producer, Audio Engineer and More Stuff

With his brilliant and talented wife, Meg Poltorak Keyes, Tim formed a music production company called August Productions, Inc., and the record company API Records., Inc. The Keyes music publishing company, Humbletunes, is named that because this artist graduated with honors from Humble High School in Humble, Texas. These music companies have currently produced 10 music videos, nationally released over thirty CD's, and published many compositions.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Harkens back to Thematic Albums, November 21, 2003

By 

Bill Simons "Musicman101" (Watchung, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sketchbook (Audio CD)

Sketchbook as a very eclectic rock album that harkens back to the days of thematic albums. It wouldn't take much imagination to put a storyline to it to proclaim this dreamy, rock/pop/techno music a rock opera of sorts. It has the necessary long pauses of instrumental music for scene changes, allowing the mind to put up new pictures. In 'Long Nights' Keyes develops a Bowie-type surround sound (think the Black Tie, White Noise era) to drape the night with caffeine and walking.

long nights are killing me
all I need I take from my friends
I talk to them after midnight
4 cups of coffee and newspaper headlines
say it again, will it keep me alive

From his informative website we learn that Keyes was a: Graduate in Music Composition and Music Theory from The University of Notre Dame. During college, his talent as a composer emerged big time. In fact, the success of the third movement of his String Quartet No.1 and the second movement of his Six Pieces for Piano landed him a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied composition, conducting, and performance with Charles Jones, Leonard Bernstein, and Andre Watts.

That dedication to a start in classical music thinking is why his pop/rock sound is so undiluted with the current tides of indie that constantly wash up on shore. The 10 tracks on Sketchbook are as original as if he's never bothered with a Beatles or Nirvana album, and that alone is compliment enough at this point in history.

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT, January 3, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Sketchbook (Audio CD)

This is the best CD ever!! My whole family enjoys it. It is creative and imaginative. its a huge change from his other music and I love it.

5.0 out of 5 stars So whatever happened to superheroes anyway?, December 24, 2003

By 

Bill Simons "Musicman101" (Watchung, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sketchbook (Audio CD)

So whatever happened to superheroes anyway? Did they just fade into the underground with comic books? Well, I would like to propose a new superhero. A superhero that clarifies and confounds simultaneously. A super hero that uplifts while bringing forth racking sobs from your chest. And this superhero is... Tim Keyes. Yeah, not such a great superhero name, I know. But wait until you see his superpowers. I'll start by telling you about his amazingly eerie Pink Floyd style intro to his new album Sketchbook. No one else has even attempted, let alone been this successful at capturing such a unique and shiver-evoking sound. The sheer emotional power of it would likely send maximum security prison escapees scampering back to their cells. Now let me impress you by describing Keyes' impressive musical versatility. With ease he maneuvers back and forth between solid keyboard based jams and despondent guitar, heavy on the tears. Like a multi-tasking Superman he pairs an upbeat feel-good sound like that of the Allman Brothers with melancholy scenes of the everyday. To view this particular superpower more closely, take a good listen to Track 6. Like any superhero, Keyes has backup super-friends. Sketchbook features an array of musicians with superpowers of their own. The album's behind the scenes crew shoots out funky backup vocals and bass lines similar to that of electronic music on some tracks. In fact, you might even hear a French horn combating evil on other tracks. Even though he is, after all, a superhero, Keyes remains in tough with his human side. He has an uncanny knack for capturing life in small surprising phrases we all recognize yet have never thought of as important. "4 cups of coffee and newspaper headlines" or "I get by with a mind like plastic that teaches my robot hands to pour a drink" are some of his best. And Keyes, although a superhero, is still vulnerable as evidenced in his lyrics such as: "You are a wound that will not heal / you are a car that will not yield / you are justification for human sacrifice." Honestly, if you were crazy enough not to buy into Tim Keyes' obvious superhero capabilities, the album art alone merits the price of a CD, at least. Like Keyes' music, Meg Poltorak's photography and design uses subtle
color to illuminate occurrences we've all seen, but never like this.