COMING MAY4, 2025: Mundane fascination. Pre-order April 10

From busy schedules and bills to families and relationships, complexities of adulthood seem to find us all as we age. 

The album, Reflections of Simplicity, is a look back at a simpler time, and memories of childhood growing up in South Texas. 

Riding a Bike begins with a lot of drama and anticipation, as to be expected. It’s followed by an uneven rhythmic pattern that describes most of our first-time experiences on the bike: not quite as smooth as we would like, before settling in. 

Puddle Jumping is a musical portrait of that carefree experience I had as a kid after the thunderstorm: Who cares if we get wet? Who cares if everything is all neat and orderly? Just let go and have fun! 

Reflections of Simplicity is a nostalgic look back at time spent as a kid in San Antonio and the simplicity of that time.

Our first dog I remember as a kid, was Tanglewood Terrific or "Two T," named after the famous Tanglewood Music Festival (greatly appreciated by my dad). TT was a crazy, three-legged Afghan Hound, who would chase cars and even chewed on the leg of the Steinway; thus the duplicitous carefree, and yet, also regrettable decisions of a dog, which are musically painted in Tanglewood Terrific's Blues. 

Searching depicts the tension of my search for God that began in my late teens, ultimately resolving to a calling to ministry in my twenties. 

Almost every weekend, dad would take us to the San Antonio Zoo, only a short drive from our house. The carefree laidback nature of not only the animals, but also the Zoo attendees, is depicted in At the Zoo. 

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, in a family of eight home-schooled kids and two parents (both of whom were professional pianists), presented as a quirky and fun life. Dad (Emmett) was a classical pianist from New Jersey and earned degrees from The Juilliard School. He lived life on the road as a concert pianist before settling down in South Texas. Mom (Carol) attended The Oberlin Conservatory and The University of Texas at Austin, and they both taught piano. We grew up playing classical piano, but I remember listening to Jazz from KRTU (almost nightly) at Half Price Books and loving it! Dad went to high school in Plainfield, New Jersey with Jazz Pianist Bill Evans and introduced me to some transcriptions when I was working on my Bachelor's Degree in Music. Thus began my lifelong exploration of the art of jazz.

-Sean Vokes