Ian Ethan Case  * Open Land Music

Featuring musicians from around the world including 4-Time Grammy Award-winning cellist Eugene Friesen (Paul Winter Consort, Trio Globo), Israeli-Brazilian flute master Amir Milstein (Bustan Abraham), legendary percussionist Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon, Esperanza Spalding), Japanese trumpeter Mao Soné, drummers Jharis Yokley and G Maxwell Zemanovic, Hartford Symphony string players Tony Connaway & Yun-Yang Lin, German vocalist Angelika Schafer, arranger/trombonist Casson Scowcroft, and world percussionists Jeff Willet and Berklee College of Music professor Bertram Lehmann (Paquito D'Rivera, Randy Brecker), Earth Suite consists of all new compositions with sounds that span the globe.

Recorded over a period of 19 months beginning in January 2014, 'Run Toward The Mountains' contains just over 92 minutes of music and features both solo double-neck compositions (Disc 1) and - at the other end of the spectrum - deeply-layered studio versions of several live looping compositions (Disc 2).

Comprised of 9 songs primarily composed on the small African instrument known as the kalimba, this special project was also the first to feature Ian's fretless guitar playing. Ranging from solo kalimba to orchestral chamber-jazz, the album includes guest musicians Matt Kilmer (percussion), Jeremy Kittel (violin, viola), Ed Howe (5-string electric fiddle), Nathaniel Smith (cello), Dylan Coleman (upright bass), Jason Rafalak (upright bass), and Caleb Dolister (drums.)

Ian's debut album includes the solo acoustic double-neck pieces "Appalachia By Air", "Into Open Land", "Along the Path", "North By Northeast", "The Gears of Man", and "Out From the Stars" (the latter featuring wordless vocals by Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen), as well as three pieces orchestrated for a full "band" (with bass, drums, percussion, and multiple double-necks all played by Ian) including "Call of the Hill", "Fourth Corner", and the nine-minute closer "Sky Forest / Through the Storm / Rejoicing".