Metroliner: honorable

My 2015 composition Metroliner just received honorable mention in the 2016 Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble Composition Contest.

About this contest

The winning composition this year is For the Rise of a New Day by Cassio Vianna of Greeley, CO.

The IC Jazz Ensemble will perform the winning and honorable mention pieces in a concert March 8. They will feature guest soloist Tony Kadleck, a NYC-based trumpeter who has performing and recording credentials out the wazoo: Maria Schneider, Buddy Rich, New York Pops, etc...

» Ithaca College's FULL PRESS RELEASE 

Incidentally, my composition Mirage was the winning composition in 2015's contest.

About Metroliner

I wrote Metroliner last spring for Chris Vadala's excellent University of Maryland Jazz Ensemble. It is a musical portrait of a high-speed train in it's hey-day.

If you're interested, here are the score and an audio recording. This bootleg was made on our monthly reading-band gig, so it is not without mistakes. After a few more play-throughs the band is going to sound dyn-o-mite on it.

» VIEW SCORE «

IUP Sparkles

I just received this recording from Keith Young, saxophone professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It's his saxophone studio ensemble performing my sax choir piece Sparkle, live in concert on the bi-centennial of Adolphe Sax's birthday.

Rudresh plays Rick

It always tickles me to hear recordings of other folks performing music I've written, no matter the experience level of the musicians. But, there is a certain thrill when the person playing the music is one of the leading musicians in the world. 

Here's a recording I just received of progressive alto saxophonist RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA performing my jazz ensemble composition Mirage. When I submitted this piece to the Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble Composition contest, I knew that Rudresh would be performing the winning piece(s). And, I was familiar with Rudresh's musical milieu, which includes vocabulary from Indian and other 'exotic' world musics. I had a strong hunch that, should Mirage happen to be selected, Rudresh would soar, taking the music to places beyond my imagination. Which he did. And then some.

Here he is in performance with Professor Mike Titlebaum's Ithaca College Jazz Ensemble. 

    »»  You can view the score and more info on this piece HERE.

Video overview:
0:00   Prof. Titlebaum discusses evaluation process for selecting Mirage as contest winner.
1:00   Music begins
2:00   Rudresh begins interpreting melody
3:30   Pace picks up
5:20   IC student trombone solo (nicely done!)
7:25   Rudresh begins his (fairly mind-blowing) improvisation

Goin' to Chicago

I'm attending the Midwest Clinic for the first time since the late 1990's. I have many fond memories of attending several times during my years living in IL and WI.

I can't wait to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.

And I'm looking forward to presenting my session Get Everyone Improvising—and Your Rhythm Section Grooving—in 10 Minutes a Day.

It should be fun!

Variety on tap

My 5'2" (including poofed-up hair) Jewish grandmother loved to say that variety is the spice of life.  And, while I do appreciate a good routine, I'm always up for new opportunities and challenges. Speaking of which, I've got a couple new experiences on tap right now:

Commission #1
Compose a grade 1/2 concert band piece for the Kiski Area Upper Elementary band. Yes, that's grade .5. This is going to be a fun-to-play piece written for 6th graders with a year of music instruction under their belt. I'm SO excited to figure out how to do this. And, to top it all off, it will be premiered at the 2016 PMEA convention in Hershey. Very cool on all fronts.

Commission #2
Compose a piece for the middle school string program in the State College Area School district. We're still ironing out the learning objectives, but I think we're going for something jazzy that may even include improvisational elements. I'm excited to tackle this one, too, especially because I'll have several opportunities to work directly with the students in the orchestra.

Commission #3
Orchestrate a delightfully creative 13-minute medley of even songs for the annual Save-the-Music Foundation fundraising concert in the Central Bucks school district. Middle school choir teacher Jim Glaser has conceived another brilliant arrangement — and it is my job to transcribe and notate everything for this show-style orchestra made of up students, music teachers, and local pros. This will be my third year on this assignment, and it's ALWAYS a good time.

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UPDATE: NOVEMBER 18

Commission #4
Compose an original piece for the Huntingdon (PA) Area High School Jazz Band. They have a lovely music program with great kids — this should be a fun one!

Bike-to-gig Day

Oh, how I love when the stars align and make it feasible to ride my bike to a gig. I think these are my main criteria:

• Venue must be easily bike-able from my house (i.e. I'd have no qualms about biking there without my horns in tow).
• Dry, not-too-frigid weather
• I don't have to bring sound gear
• Gig attire is not too dressy (i.e. no clothes that require dry cleaning)

Here's my rig from a park concert I played yesterday:

View fullsize

Set-up:  Burley 2-child bicycle trailer. 1998 vintage, about the same age as my oldest daughter, in fact.

Contents: tenor saxophone, music stand (with folding legs), backpack with miscellaneous accessories, tote bag with four fat 3-ring binders of music.

You can't really see it in this photo, but this trailer attaches (easily) to the back of my bike and is towed behind.

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Do you ever bike to gigs or rehearsals with your instruments? What's your set-up?

Zola returns!

Live jazz returns to Zola for the first time since 2014.

We hope you can join us and make a good showing for live jazz support to the good folks at the new Zola.

Thursday, Aug 27  •  8-10 pm  • no cover

Recent: PSU Blue Band

I recently completed my 14th annual batch of charts for the 300-member Penn State Blue Band. There have been many memorable arranging assignments, including Stairway to Heaven, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead/Merry Ol' Land of Oz, and a TV Theme mashup, to name a few.

This year I contributed to the 'Stevie Wonder' show (Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing - I can't remember which game) and the 'Tower-of-Power' show (So Very Hard to Go, for the Michigan game halftime).

As these two charts are hot-of-the-presses, all I have to share is the Finale audio file.

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Here are recordings of the aforementioned Stairway and Ding Dong arrangements, performed by the Blue Band at their annual indoor Band-o-rama concert.

Regional TV Spot

Last week I did a brief interview with Dawn Pellas on WTAJ's Central PA Live in Altoona. We were there to promote a concert with the Hollidaysburg Community Band (which has since occurred).

Anyhow, they had me perform two solo pieces.

The first thumbnail links to the play-off at the end of the show, about 90 seconds of some blues. The second thumbnail links to the brief interview and a couple minutes of the jazzy Tango di'Toona. 

This week: Saxations

This week's assignment involves writing several new arrangements for the San Diego-based Saxations. Since 2013 I've arranged over 20 charts for this funky and entertaining band fronted by a fine saxophone foursome.

This present batch of tunes includes the Stones' Brown Sugar, Boyz II Men's I'll Make Love to You, Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk, and a medley of Jackson 5 tunes (as heard on American Idol). I believe they're presently developing repertoire for a Motown-themed show in the fall.

I love how on-the-ball these musicians are from a professional standpoint: they have a great musical concept; have built an excellent A-list team of rhythm section players, recording engineers and producers, arrangers, and so forth; and they are thoughtful about preparing for their big events. There's nothing rushed and impulsive in this project.

Here's a link to their first (self-titled) album. I arranged five of the ten tracks: Love Never Felt So Good, Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing, Natural Woman, Blurred Lines, and Play it Like You Mean It.