The fact that you are reading these notes means that The Putney Project (Volume 2) is now available upon your desktop or hard drive. While the contributions are very different from those of Volume 1, there is a definite connection in the way each collection works beautifully as an 'album,' in the old-fashioned "Sgt. Pepper" notion of a collection of material that combines to form a distinctive whole.

The Putney Project came about as a result of two disparate and widely separated experiences. The first was my early exposure to the the EMS VCS-3, an odd English synthesizer known as the "Putney." This peculiar and temperamental piece of gear was the nexus of the electronic music studio at Nazareth College of Rochester, where I got my undergraduate music degree in 1987. The second was my participation in the 60x60 series, a brilliant scheme of my composer friend Robert Voisey, who has curated numerous concerts of an hour in length, each featuring 60 works by 60 different composers. What I loved about this was the collision of so many styles and means, as well as the community that these concerts fostered. I loved the idea of "introducing" different people to one another via their music. I thought it might be fun to do something similar.

When I was an undergraduate, I occasionally did improvisations with the Putney in real time and recorded them directly onto a cassette. I don't remember playing them for anyone, never presented them anywhere, but I was extremely fond of them and kept them with me through numerous moves and life changes. In recent years, I digitized these old tapes and they became source material for new works of mine. A few months ago I began to wonder how others might utilize this raucous and retro material and so I sent out an invitation to anyone I knew that I thought might be attracted to such a venture. The response was enthusiastic and far beyond my expectations. This is the second volume of resulting works.

David D. McIntire (22 May 2012)