So how did it go?

So my ears perk up when someone describes something as noise. My terminology is "exquisite dissonance". And yes. Very nice. It says composed by you so I'd like to hear "the Stick interpretation". The melody is a bit different than your usual compositions. Wild shit. Makes me want to dance.
But again, my tastes are eclectic.

This is REALLY GOOD.

Glad you like it.

This is one of my few compositions that wasn't actually written as a "Stick tune". I played in an improve group called "The Offering" in the late 1980s, and the melody was usually played by the violinist/keyboardist, Michael Sokolowski. Other tuned on LIFT were written to feature other musicians. I wrote "Still Water" with the sound of John D'earth's trumpet in my head back in 1986, and I never played the melody for "Dissent" (both hands needed for the groove on Stick), which I also wrote in the late 1980s.

There might be some dancin'...

"Still Water" is one of my earliest compositions. I originally wrote the melody with trumpeter John D'earth in mind back in 1986. I am blown away by the performance of Hubert Heeringa on this version.

A LITTLE STORY..
The way this tune is written, the melody cues the chord changes, so however long the lead player waits to start the second phrase, the band just vamps on the groove and then we change the chord at the right moment. As we were laying down the rhythm section (Jan, Jan and I), we recorded Hubert playing the form and solo, assuming we would replace them later so he could concentrate more on his execution, but he played the parts so fantastically we ended up just using what would normally be a rehearsal take for him for the final version. This is the kind of thing a great player can do, not the kind of thing most of the rest of us are very good at.

https://greghoward.bandcamp.com/track/still-water-3