Prairie Winds Fanfare (2011-Brass/Percussion Ensemble)

Jesu Impressions (2011-Brass Quintet)
(Based on Jesu Joy of Mans' Desiring)

Time to do something a little different, including a bit of a struggle. The CD mentioned in the Suite Holidays section still required additional new music, but not necessarily totally original music. I'd thought about what arrangements might work for the brass quintet and among the things that came to mind was a sort of swing arrangement of Jesu Joy of Mans' Desiring by J. S. Bach. But I say swing somewhat loosely. The original title, Jesu Jumpin' Joy, gave the impression that this would be a rousing jivey sort of tune that you could dance to with the stars, but the swing sections are not that fast, and there is a somewhat somber ballad section in the middle that turns into a slow dance. Consequently my struggle... what to call the piece. Considering its diversity as well as its origin, meaning Bach, of course, I finally settled on Jesu Impressions. Despite the fact that it's not all swing and not all Bach, I still hope it ends up being a little bit of fun. (2/12/11)

Jesu Impressions

[3:34, MP3-3.27MB]

Suite Holidays (2010)
(Original Music for the Season)

Washington Statements, A Northwest Suite for Brass Band (2010)

Washington Statements is a sort of musical travelogue through the state of Washington. It is in five movements with each depicting a different part or feature of the state. If I had never gotten into program music before, this piece certainly took me there. Each movement is extremely graphic musically, though still subject to visualization and interpretation on the part of the listener. The suite is now complete except for final performance edits to the orchestration. (12/7/10)

1. Palouse   [5:59, MP3-5.48MB]	Soaring like a bird over the Palouse, the hills are depicted by ostinato figures rising and falling on chord structures that also rise and fall by various intervals. The landscape stretches on in a sea of grains, changing colors as they wave in the breeze. Now and again over the regular scenery can be heard the sounds of human presence, a distant train whistle, the rumble of combines at work, and hoe-down style dancing, before taking flight again and disappearing into the hills.
2. Columbia   [4:17, MP3-3.92MB]	There's a perception of austerity surrounding the traveler floating down this great river, not only of humanity but of history. A certain sparseness to the landscape reflected in and echoed by the interjected quintuplet figures. The river is large, wide, even slow. Soon it approaches the Gorge. The music begins to rise as the mountain walls rise on either side, in scale segments piled on top of each other, displaying a similar mix of color found in the rocks and foliage that ascend all around until reaching their majestic heights. Finally the river slowly exits the gorge, once again becoming it's mighty but peaceful self, until it quietly empties into the sea, nothing but the sound of a steady northwest rain left to be heard.
3. Hoh Rainforest   [3:43, MP3-3.41MB]	There are only a small number of places in the world where temperate rainforests exist. The coast of the Pacific Northwest is one of them. The rainforest rarely freezes, but also rarely gets overly warm. It is a cool, wet place, filled with the cycle of life, the noises of activity, the silence of nature, and the legacy of millenia of existence. This presentation is twofold... The Primordial Forest: the use of the xylophone in the opening and closing of the music is not just a description of the coolness of the forest, but of its prehistoric foundation. The Forest Full of Life: in the middle section the songs of birds predominate the soft, lush landscape. Here the cool shade displays its warm side, the color of wings and sounds everywhere the eye turns. This is a place of ages, a vision of that which has existed for thousands of years, to be preserved for thousands more... a record of natural history always in the making.
4. Cities of the Sound   [9:16, MP3-8.47MB]	The cities that surround Puget Sound consist of a remarkable mixing of cultures. People from the eastern and southern states have migrated west bringing European influences, while the cultures of Asia have flowed across the Pacific to produce a stir-fry of flavors from all over. This movement is a theme and variations. After the full statement of the theme in traditional style there are five distict variations before the concluding epilogue section which restates the theme, with some brass band traditionality. The first variation is All That Jazz, representing the clubs scattered throughout the region. Variation two is East Meets West, an Asian style section making use of the pentatonic scale found in East Asian music. Variation three is The Grunge, or at least the best attempt that can be made using a brass band. (True grunge is heavily distorted guitars and depricating lyrics, neither of which can be easily replicated in the band, but if not fully grunge at least the rock elements of Puget Sound cities can be found here.) After the intensity of the rock section and in stark contrast, follows Master Classical... very calm and serene, in a modified Bachian style. The musical culture of the Northwest would not be fully represented without the final variation, Native Waves, where the drum and chant-style, non-verbal song melds with the original theme as do the cultures of the area. The Epilogue, which could be considered yet one more variation, but which diverges from the true "Cities" relationships, was intended as a restatement of the original theme in the context of competitive music that might be found in fundamental brass band music, hence something of a geographical departure from the local scene. Overall this piece is full of the varieties and colors of musical and cultural life found all along the shores of Puget Sound.
5. Rainier   [5:58, MP3-5.46MB]	Mount Rainier is the central pinnacle of Western Washington. On a clear day it stands above not just the populated land, but the whole of the Cascade range. Other mountains have their own personalities... Mt. Shuksan, St. Helens, Adams, but their influence is not nearly so far-reaching. This final movement traverses one path that leads to the summit. At the beginning we stand before the mountain, demonstrated by the five note motif which recurs throughout the movement, both beautiful and daunting. As the climb begins we pass through a flowered field, across a frozen glacier, then hurry through a gathering storm to break out into the final assault on the peak. At the top, the magnificence of the mountain gathers with all its force of grandeur to bring the movement and the piece to its final climax.

Wedding Music for Brass Quintet (2009)

Incantations for Tuba and Brass Band (2009)

March Maligned for Brass Band (2008)

Music for the film, "A Fistful of Mud" (2008)

Interval Study for Tuba (2007)

String Symphony (2012, 2006 [1999])

Blues Town for Brass Quintet (2006)

We've had the distinct privilege of being guinea pigs for a composer friend (David Baptist) of the horn player in our quintet. The first piece he wrote for us, "Brass Noire", includes a rather jazzy section which is a nice contrast to the more traditional writing on either side of it. I found it personally inspiring and started throwing my own ideas into a mix of notes in a somewhat similar fashion.
I did not set out to write "program" music in this case and will not publicly acknowledge any sort of story line to the music. I am willing to admit, however, that the blues section is relevant to the title. I'll leave the rest up to your own imaginations.

Blues Town

[5:48, MP3-5.31MB]

Horny Happy Birthday (2006-for DB)

Tribute (2006)

Blue Moon Variations for Brass Quintet (2006)

I'd recently had the pleasure of sitting in with the Rainier Symphony for their Spring Pops Concerts. Unlike most pops productions, which usually consist of all manner of popular music performed exclusively by the orchestra with perhaps an occasional soloist or two, this one was entirely orchestral accompaniment to a husband-wife team known as the Bottom Line Duo, a name reflecting the fact that both their normal parts are found at the bottom of a score, string bass and 'cello. The two were outstanding and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with them. But, of course, tubas invariably don't have parts to play in all music, so I sat back and enjoyed those tunes for which I had tacits. One piece in particular grabbed my attention. It was the old Rogers and Hart song "Blue Moon". This wonderful duo took the tune and turned it around, hamming it up along the way, kind of the traditional variations when playing pop music. By the end of the second concert I began to consider the fun I might have writing some variations of my own for brass quintet.
As I got started that evening I began to realize just how many other tunes shared the same or similar harmonies and I perhaps got a little crazy with laying things on top of each other. In fact I had so many ideas I wanted to include that I had to begin whittling them down when I realized I was already at about six minutes to that point. So within a matter of just a couple days the piece was at least playable by the quintet and has now been (I expect) finally revised. I'm sure you will recognize many of the tunes other than Blue Moon, but lest I be remiss in my acknowledgements I'd like to pay my respects to the composers of the following music: Mr. Sandman, Gilligan's Island Theme, The Hornpipe, Heart and Soul, Scheherezade, Music of the Night from "Phantom of the Opera", An American in Paris, and On the Trail from the "Grand Canyon Suite". Have fun! I certainly did.

Blue Moon Variations

[6:39, MP3-6.36MB]

Expressions for Trombone and Piano (2006)

Concertino for Tuba and Symphonic Band (2005)

Woodwind Quintet (2005)

In Memoriam 911 (2001, Orchestrated- 2011)

String Quartet No. 2 (1997)

String Quartet No. 1 (1987, 1996-7)

Piano Preludes (1983-4, 2000)

Piano Etudes (1996)

Sonata for Tuba and Piano (1998...)

Woodwind Trio (1971)

Quintet for Brass (1969)