Appalachian Awakening Score

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

Appalachian Awakening is an extended piece that expresses my love of the Appalachian Mountains. The Rockies are beautifully majestic, but there is a deep-rooted soul in the Appalachians that speaks to me. The idea for this music came to me when I was hiking in West Virginia. I was not intending to think about a new piece of music; however, all of a sudden I heard the opening of the bossa nova in my mind and it expressed, for me, the beauty of the surrounding mountains.

This is a highly unusual composition in how it combines bossa nova and Appalachian-style fiddle music. The two sections were composed as one piece, with the fiddle music emerging from the bossa nova. That is, they are not separate pieces that were put together.

The mid-size ensemble score is for soloist, 5 horns, and rhythm section. Ideally, the solo instrument is a violin; however it can work with other instruments. The score uses flexible instrumentation. This enables the music to be played by many combinations of instruments.