Baltimore Rowhouse Score

This video combines my mid-size jazz ensemble score for Baltimore Rowhouse with the recording by David Arivett.

This is an extended piece that is a tribute to Baltimore. The music goes through a series of moods and settings. Serial techniques are used in subtle ways throughout the score and provide compositional structure. The piece strikes a balance between notation and improvisational freedom for both the soloists and the ensemble musicians. Recorded by Amy Leonard, violin; Jason Shapiro, alto saxophone; Jeff Knoettner, piano; E. Shawn Qaissaunee, guitar; Peter McCarthy, bass; Skip Rohrich, drums; and David Arivett, horn section.

The melody in the ballad section is based on 12-tone rows over conventional jazz chord progression. The chord progression serves to ground the melody so it does not sound atonal. The chord progression in the solo section (7) is roughly based on the tone row used in the 4-bar bridge of the ballad (3). After the guitar solo, the dissonant horn voicings (8) are based on the first four notes of the ballad bridge.

The mid-size ensemble score is for soloist, 5 horns, and rhythm section. The score uses flexible instrumentation. This enables the music to be played by many combinations of instruments.