In creating a new special archive of Insect and Western for the Feeding Tube label, my priority regarding 'Mourning of the Praying Mantis' was to bring in the Warren Smith recording, to my great personal enjoyment which I now hope to share with the listener. 'Mourning of the Praying Mantis' was one of the scores I brought to a duet session with master percussionist Warren Smith in 2012. This was the centerpiece of the first commercially released collections of my Insect and Western pieces, a CD entitled Insect Attracter on the British Leo label. By 1997 I had an interesting and diverse set of recordings in a variety of media and assembled a long version of the piece blending many of the soloists featured in the different performances.
Following what I felt was a classic interpretation by the Insect and Western Party trios and quartets, the piece circulated through the evenings devoted to my Insect and Western music at concerts taking place around the United States. 'Mourning of the Praying Mantis' was created in the earliest series of Insect and Western scores, first performed by the Bull Fiddle contrabass quartet of Oakland in 1996. 'This is the first in a series of Feeding Tube vinyl releases devoted to the Insect and Western catalog of recordings, newly mastered and often with added material.
