Peter Sprague's The Dance Of The Universe

After a five-day tour in New York City with jazz vocalist Diane Reeves, Peter Sprague returned home, opened his guitar case, and discovered the neck of his guitar broke somewhere between New York and San Diego. If that not enough reason for him to retire from playing guitar, his diagnosis with arthritis 15 years earlier should have given him reason. But instead of quitting his passion, he continues to play in concerts and produce his own and other people’s CDs. Whether playing to the sounds of his favorite jazz legends or the memory of guitar rifts, Sprague enjoys setting his world to music. When he sets out to produce a CD, he says, “I just look at things that interest me. [And ask] how can I bring them in and make them real within my own world."

In June of 1977, he set his world to music, along with the group Dance of the Universe with the release of You Make me Want to Sing. After that, Sprague, Kevyn Lettau, and the rest of the members of the band produced The Space Between Two Thoughts. That album began after Sprague met a hippie who gave him a poem titled “The Dance of the Universe,” written before the band’s formation.

That meeting led him to set more poetry to music. Many familiar with Sprague and his music know the story of the death of Chris Pengram’s daughter, Nikki, killed by a drunk driver. Sprague set one of Nikki’s poems about a Rose to music. That song turned out so well her mother wanted more of Nikki’s poetry set to music. Sprague set out to write every song on that CD using Nikki’s poetry as inspiration for every song on that album. After the release of Nikki’s Rose, Pengram celebrated her daughter’s life by giving a Rose to everyone at the premiere