More Music for Large Ensemble.
In 2008, when I first started writing for jazz orchestra / big band / large ensemble / whatever you want to call it, a suite was created for the festival JazzBaltica in Salzau, Germany, and played by the NDR band based in Hamburg. Three of those pieces ended up on the CD ‘A Single Sky,’ released last year: The Presidents, Campaign Trail, and Blockbuster [vid].
The remaining pieces are still here in my files and I have been going back through them for the last few days. It is amazing to look back in hindsight and see things you would have (should have) done differently. I have begun the revision process and I’m grateful for all I have learned playing these charts with excellent musicians around the country. It’s a joy to work with these old friends again — you spend so much time working with large ensemble scoring, the notes become your companions — and I will get a chance to hear the updated versions soon. As well as hopefully putting them on wax at some point.
