In 2003 I recorded the album Dedication, my fifth independently released CD, which in the liner notes I detailed a brief musical history. Dedication bridged a 14-year gap between recordings, as well as a documented move from Seattle, WA. to New York City. In 2004 I formed the Bill Stevens Quintet and in 2005 we recorded the CD Full Circle. Full Circle detailed a specific moment in time and musical direction. In the liner notes I stated, "I began to see this journey more as a quest, one that is still incomplete and may be realized, completing the circle, during my next project."

In this, my seventh CD, I am looking to close one circle, before breaking off into another circle of infinite creation. Beginning in 2007 I started to examine my career as a musician covering more than 30 years and it became evident to me that many of my principles toward composition and improvisation were formed at the University of Miami. It was there that I met my composition teacher and small group instructor, Ron Miller. Over time I have developed a writing style utilizing non-traditional harmonies and Romantic based melodies over various styles from straight ahead Jazz, open form—ECM style, free Jazz and avant-chromatic funk. All of which can be heard on this CD, including what are examples of the next phase of writing that I am moving towards, more of a minimalist writing style that I have begun to refer to as "settings for improvisation."

In 2008 I wanted to begin writing a piece that incorporated these concepts, but lacked a direction or starting point as to where to begin. That summer, while in Washington, D.C. my wife and I went to the National Gallery. It was here that I first saw Barnett Newman's, "The Stations of the Cross" and his culminating work, "Be II." I could not leave this room. I had found my starting point and direction. Upon returning to New York I spent the next several months involved in research on Barnett Newman and his work, "The Stations of the Cross" and "Be II." In understanding Mr. Newman's intent that the Passion is not the terrible walk up the Via Delarosa, but of the final outcry of Jesus—lema sabachthani—Why did you forsake me? The question that has no answer.

My research also led me to an examination of the historical Stations, the lost readings of the Catholic Church including the Gospel of Q, the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary. I began to see the relationships of this work, through the writings of Mr. Newman and others, toward Holocaust memory, homelessness and the state of the times in which we are living today. Although I believe in the power of spirituality in music, this is not a religious work, instead allow me to quote David Byrne, "Probably like a lot of people, I feel alienated from the traditional models that were presented to me when I was a child, and eventually I left those and said. 'That doesn't seem relevant to me.' But I, like a lot of people, felt that as human beings we have some longing for transcending things in some way, shape or form."

I began the process of writing a composition for each of the fourteen Stations and "Be II." Leonard Bernstein used to say, "every composer spends his life writing the same piece." Bernstein's "Mass" represented the culmination of his ideas—of what he was and this piece is much the same for me.

By 2009 I had concluded the writing of the fifteen movements and I contacted a friend from our days together at Fredonia State and the University of Miami, Jay Bianchi, to produce the album and to play the piano and keyboards. Jay assembled a group of musicians in