One of my most fulfilling creative pursuits is arranging and composing for large jazz ensemble. I had the pleasure and the privilege of playing in Stony Brook’s Blowage big band (led by Mister Ray Anderson Himself) for three years in college, and in that time, I gained a new appreciation for the depth of expression that seventeen or so people can achieve through negotiation, improvisation, composition, dialectic, etc.
Some of my works:
Lake Park Bridge
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Lake Park Bridge was written around the margins of a sunny trip to Milwaukee in June 2013. It begins with a bass trombone feature inspired by Ray’s freer side (the inscription in the score: “SQUEEZE GROAN POP GROWL SQUEAL”) and moves into a straight-ahead contemporary swing. Careful listeners will find that my preference for tight, complex horn voicings was already well developed two years ago.
The recording above is from Blowage’s May concert in 2014. Unfortunately, we brass had already blown our chops by LPB’s programmed slot and it shows. Nonetheless, it was a fun gig, and you can still hear some top-notch solo work from Pete, Dan, Alex, (high) Tom, (low) Tom, and Gabe.
Mondays With Ray
A rather transparent tribute to an enigmatic trombonist and his educational objectives. Mondays is something of a pastiche, a patchwork of styles and influences. There’s a jazz waltz, a circus band, a New Art Orchestra, about a dozen metric modulations, a pedal point, a pyramid, and a lopsided blues chorus. At one point the guitarist is instructed to “Lay out (except for occasional noodling).” That sort of thing.
Indian Summer
My arrangement of Victor Herbert’s Indian Summer was inspired in part by a growing interest in the “orchestral” techniques of Schneider, Evans, Brookmeyer, and their ilk, and in part by the attitude and atmosphere of colleague Kevin Laskey’s arrangement of Where or When. It felt like it was about time to take my own crack at the Songbook, and so I came up with this one.
The piece is structured roughly in two sections: the first is a vaporous straight-eighths setting of the melody over a pedal ostinato. Saxes double on flutes and clarinets, while trumpets do their mute thing in clusters. Suddenly and surprisingly, the ostinato is now a funk backbeat. Short trombone and guitar solos lead into an open section for shredding. Eventually, the superstructure breaks down into drum madness and the head is resurrected, trying to synthesize both the funk and orchestral feels. The band fades out unpredictably from there.
Moxie and Milk
Moxie and Milk is dedicated to ______ and the ______ — just who that is will have to wait for the Big Reveal. This piece is a straight-ahead four-on-the-floor Basie swing with crunchy horn solis and a short foray into concert B major. There’s a contrapuntal shout chorus, of course. Why wouldn’t there be? It’s designed to showcase an old-school band with its heart in the right place.