Silent Flute

Mickey responded [to the rejection of "Fire On The Mountain"] by making a sound track to a martial arts film called The Silent Flute, written by, among others, Bruce Lee. Martial arts was a Hartian specialty and brought out his greatest intensity. For two weeks he did not change his clothing and had his food left at the barn door. Since he did not even have a copy of the script, he relied solely on his memory of one reading. "Piano. Low frequencies. It was my best work." This, too, was rejected. "They actually walked out on me while I was playing it for them."

Unlike the very enigmatic efforts of Area Code 415 amd Fire on the Mountain, this unreleased Mickey Hart LP is precisely predictable in material. Cryptic, tranquil, naive, and exploratory, this solo effort consists of only three tracks, which represent a bipolar display of delicate genius and arrogant mercurialism. The standard chops are thought out and poignant, the avant-garde material focussed and melodic. And, of course, the percussion contribution is incomparaly dynamic, ranging from serenely silent to the threshold of pain.

Track 1 begins with a distant space segment followed by a brief series of indecipherable quips à la "Seastones." In the background you can hear commanding bellows erupting rather quickly before they fade into silence. Arising abruptly, the tempo of the jam becomes erratic, the pattern like that of a bell curve. Though the ascensions are painstaking, the declines are demonic. Upon the arising, one can feel the motion of the jam flowing through the body. While descending, one can feel oneself being drained, drip by drip. After failing to resolve, the jam is grounded with an eruptive bomb that is as chillingly haunting as the call of the reaper. Without warning, the jam abruptly shifts from possessed to enlightened, leading into a sparingly minimal jam with deep Asian overtones. Precise and refined, the jam meanders to a graceful fade, until all that is left is the uncluttered whispers of the flute, and the silence in between. That's what it must sound like in the presence of the Buddha! Teasing the ascension, Garcia takes the lead with a heavenly solo of innocent inquiry. Rich in delay, each bend in the string seemingly expands the awakening further. The responding jam, which contains a brief lick resembling the "Star Wars" theme, sets the path for the final ascension. Slowly and gently the jam builds, savoring momentarily upon the arrival before once again fading into silence.

Track 2 is backward, and though at a glance it sounds like gibberish (remember "Revolution #9"?), it actually contains a quaint and soothing melody. Unfortunately, the track concludes before its motif can be assumed.

The concluding selection is a Hart-Lagin jam set with a primitive percussion rhythm accompanied by hollow electrosynthesiser-like bombs. Though appealing, this jam reamins set in a specificpattern, and like track 2, it concludes prematurely, thus hampering it's effectiveness.

The Silent Flute has an interesting story. Here is The Silent Flute story.

OK, I'm into martial arts. Grace Slick is into this kung fu stuff too. We're hanging out watching them making kung fu movies. Bruce Lee had just died and they were making these movies in San Francisco at this big house. I was interested in doing the score. I was interested in doing action movies. This was my first look at how it could be.

Then one day Grace says, 'Come on over. I've got something to show you.' She hands me this screenplay. She puts me in this room and closes the door and says, 'Read it.' I started reading this thing and it was called The Silent Flute. What it was was a screenplay by Sterling Silliphant, James Coburn, and Bruce Lee, and it was written for Bruce Lee's next movie. And they canned it! Bruce died. [July 1973] I was just totally taken by the imagery. It's about a guy in his quest for knowledge and he's put to all these tests and these trials. It was magnificent, so well written. I couldn't believe the first draft. So I just said, 'Thank you, Grace.' I'll never forget.

I went home, locked myself in my studio for 2-1/2 weeks. I never left the studio. I had my food put in underneath the door. I didn't change my clothes for a week-and-a-half or two weeks. Serious composing, man! I'd never done that. I probably never will again. I didn't have the script, I just remembered it. And I wrote the score to The Silent Flute. The movie wasn't even in production yet. Grace loved it. Everybody I played it to thought it was just like the movie should have been. I have the ability to do that. Now I can make music and it sounds like what it looks like.

I gave it to Warner Brothers. Jerry was on it too. It was all space. It was gorgeous. Piano. Low frequencies. It was my best work, the best I ever did.

Five years later - this was a couple of years ago, three years ago - I see in a paper that The Silent Flute is going into production with David Carradine with this Richard St. Johns fellow producing it. Warner Brothers were putting it out! Warner Brothers didn't even know that I had written the score years ago. I went to Richard St. Johns and told him and he said, 'What are your qualifications for it? What is your resume?' I've never done a resume in my life! What can I say? 'No, I've not done a movie.' I don't think he took me seriously.

It was made as The Circle of Iron; it was called that eventually. Totally raped by Carradine in Israel. The Circle of Iron was released a year ago and flopped totally. It was awful. They raped it. But originally it was really well done. That's the story of The Silent Flute. Basically I made this music to the imagery of the movie. Of course, what turned out was nothing like what I had seen. That first draft was beautiful. They turned it into a 29-cent special. Bruce Lee would've turned over in his grave.