After Hours (2014) for solo drum set was commissioned by drummer Aaron Staebell and premiered on his showcase at the 2014 Rochester Fringe Festival, September 21, 2014 at Bernunzio Uptown in Rochester, NY. This is a video recording form the premiere.
Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra performs “Noir” in November
I am thrilled to announce that I will have the opportunity to share my music with the Seattle Jazz Women’s Orchestra November 3rd and 4th, featuring Grace Kelly on alto saxophone! My composition Noir was selected as the 2014 winner of the annual SWOJO Composition Contest. The honorable mention went to Jihye Lee for her composition “Deep Blue Sea.” http://swojo.org/contest_results.html
The judges were SWOJO’s guest artist, Grace Kelly http://www.gracekellymusic.com, Juno award winning jazz composer Christine Jensen http://www.christinejensenmusic.com/, and our music director, Daniel Barry: http://swojo.org/players.html.
Here is some feedback from the judges on “Noir”:
– “Strongest compositionally. This piece reminds me of Ornette’s collaboration with Howard Shore for the film Naked Lunch.”
– “Really beautiful and haunting. Reminded me of some Maria Schneider pieces and Billy Childs arrangements I’ve heard.”
– “Strongest compositionally with a contemporary big band approach to it.”
Here is a link to the recording “Noir” that I submitted for this contest. “Noir” was premiered by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble.
The Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra will perform it as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. The concert is on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at the Triple Door in Seattle, WA.
Aaron Staebell performs “AfterHours” at Rochester Fringe Festival
At the 2014 Rochester Fringe Festival, Aaron Staebell will feature world premieres by 15 contemporary composers who were commissioned to write new works for the drum set. Written works will be interspersed with improvisations by Staebell, who is known for his unique, engaging performances – this presentation of brand new music should be no different.
When Aaron approached me about writing a drumset solo for him to perform at the Fringe Festival, he told me his goal was to collect a number of pieces for solo drumset that are NOT stylized in a jazz, rock or latin context, learn them, perform them, submit them to workshops/conferences and maybe eventually publish a collection of these works. I jumped at the opportunity to write a piece him him, not only because I have felt honored to collaborate with him on so many of my composition projects, but also because I continually want to learn more about writing for drumset.
Solo Drum Solo
Aaron Staebell, drums
Bernunzio Uptown Music
September 21st and 22nd, 6pm
Rochester, NY
Tickets: $10
Visit the Fringe Festival page: http://rochesterfringe.com/shows/show/solo-drum-solo