Other English was recorded mainly in July of 2011. Each person on the album recorded two "first" tracks. For example on tracks 1 and 10 my brother, Mat Maneri recorded a solo piece on viola. They were actually meant to be a demo for a possible soundtrack, however he gave me permission to use it for this purpose. I then added a tenor recorder track to each. Then came the ghost of our dad, Joe Maneri. He had recorded 24 of his sound poems in 1999 on a tape recorder. I did my best to clean up the sound and make his voice present. His sound poems were not the origin of the title of the album, however. It was my daughter who, in her first offering which became the title track, came up with a title. She was just shy of three years old at the time and she was playing on her toy xylophone and then interrupting herself with recorder and then a kind of intense chanting in which the words were clear yet not English. I asked her later what she was singing about. She said, "mermaids..in other English." For that track I added theramin and synthesizer, then Ben Jaffe played a quite tenor track and Len Hiesler played a beautifully sensitive bass track.
Now back to track two. On that one, I had my mother play a folk song that was very nostalgic for me. She used to play it when I was a small boy. I added sparse recorder and synthesizer to it and then let it alone. On track 4 my father's ghost comes back but this time as the voice of a mermaid. Don Sandeen began this track by offering two motifs on a four string banjo. Inspired by my daughter's interest in mermaids I came up with lyrics loosely based on the Hans Christian Anderson story "The Little Mermaid." Like Peter and the Wolf, I thought of the recorder as being the voice of the mermaid. Then I tried incorporating my father's poetry as the voice of the mermaid. So the recorders instead became the voice of the sea and the sound of death. For track 5, Tom Jameson offered an original banjo part which he played over and over again. I selected the last take, hence the title. Ben and I did tracks after that. For track 6 Ben laid down the first track. Len offered a Bass line, then I added an alto recorder part. The whole piece came together when much later, Mike Beharie added his guitar part. The effect that it sounds as if we were all playing together spontaneously is one I'm very proud of. On track 7 Len began with a beautifully rendered version of Georgia on My Mind. It was in-keeping with the other English concept as he doesn't articulate the words to the song. Ben and I added tracks later. Track 8 began with Mike's guitar part. I had planned to add a lot of instruments to it, however, after trying out a Nusret Feteh Ali Kahn inspired vocal part, I felt the piece was done. "Who Will Buy My White Sands" is a Civil War era song about a soldier who is dying and he wonders who will by his sands. To blot out mistakes when writing you used a sand in those days. Grey sand was the cheap version and white sand the expensive. Gabe sang the round and later taught it to me. I also added church organ and Ben played an Ayler-esque response that I think really works. For track 10, I offered the first track on synthesizer. Later I added my father's ghost again, then Ben, Don and Mike added tracks. Track 11 was the second offering by my brother Mat. On this one instead of Joe, I chose Ben to stand in for our late dad. This one too has the distinct sound of Picasso paintings playing together in a cubist dance in one room. Track 12 was Len's second offering. On this one I added two tracks, recorder and Nord. This is an original piece. On track 13 Mike offered his second piece. Don added the bells and later I added a quiet synth part. Last I got up the guts to play my father's clarinet which my mother had only very recently let me have. I played a bit when I was in high school but never studied formally. Track 14 was my daughter's second offering. This one happened when I was practicing one afternoon and recording myself as my daughter came in the door from a play date. She started howling in this operatic tone and twisting a Chinese drum which is in her pile of instruments which is in the same room that I record music. On track 15 Tom offered a second banjo piece. This one seemed perfect for a religious theme. It does resemble the work I did on my last record "Missa Agnostica" and I almost thought of calling it that. On track 16 Gabe offered another round. This one is a Quaker song. We work together at a Friends school, and Gabe was raised in Quaker family. I didn't know there were Quaker songs...as their worship services are silences. I now know better. He taught me this song as well so I added a part to the round as well as organ and later Ben added a growling sax part. Track 17 was Don's second offering. He's an excellent poet and I had thought he might add poetry to other tracks on the record, however, that part ended up being filled by Joe Maneri. Gaslight was a hard song to record as the variety of sounds offered by myself, Len Heisler and Ben Jaffe fill up a huge sound spectrum. Eventually I got the mix to have the live edge I wanted it too, but also the central force of Don's poem is always at the forefront. Track 18 was actually Ben's second offering. Against his wishes I made him start the track with bongos. I didn't know where I was going with this. Second I added my father's ghost. It seemed like that could be it. But then I gave the clarinet a chance. This time I tried to channel Joe as I played. In his late recordings on clarinet he suffered terribly from carpel tunnel syndrome and couldn't feel his fingers. He would sort of glide his hand over the instrument pressing gently here and there. I closed my eyes and attempted to do the same. I don't have his tone (no one does) but I did achieve some of the same intervals. In fact when I first played this for my brother he thought I lifted the clarinet track from one of the ECM recordings. On track 19 I had gotten my mother to drag out her accordion which she hadn't played in 30 years. After a few minutes of tinkering she played La Paloma. My daughter was dancing around as she played and you can hear her laughter in the background as well as my mother's. Later Ben played saxophone, and last I added the recorder track. The last track on this record was my second offering. This time I began the song with the Theremin. Ben added his tenor part and I decided I'd end with Joe voice as I began the record with it. Mike Beharie came to the rescue for the second time, as the track really came together when he added a synthesizer track.

This album is dedicated to Ben Jaffe, Jessamyn Maneri, Sonja Maneri, Don Sandeen, Len Heisler, Mat Maneri, Mike Beharie, Gabe Morden-Snipper, Tom Jameson, and my wife Kristine. Though she didn't record on this record, she has done more for me as a musician and a person than anyone in my life.