Talking with Charlie is a response to bass clarinetist Gareth Davis’ request for an ensemble piece that could be played by a changing combination of musicians from different backgrounds and styles.

This  “imaginary talk” with Charlie Parker, one of Dahinden’s musical heroes, is captured in a score involving graphic as well as more conventional elements. The choice of working with graphic material was a conscious way to undermine the distinction between interpretation of a composed work, and improvisation. This hybrid mixture of conventional and graphic notation – bebop-sounding phrases inspired by Parker are notated, pushes the performers to reimagine their way of playing and invites ways for players of vastly different backgrounds to find common ground.