Compositions
Tuba Sonatina #1 See video
Here are some compositions of mine:
Mintz Balls was my first composition, written in 1984. It was used as a theme for a CBC French weekly jazz show for several years.
I have about one hundred jazz compositions, most in the post hard bop and latin styles. Two of them, fusing blues and African Fusion with contemporary jazz, were recorded by Michel Cusson and the Wild Unit, and another was recorded on Live at Timucua by the Timucua Jazz Orchestra.
I wrote 12 circus like tunes in 1999, a couple of which ended up in a feature film: The 7 Lives of Chances, by Banks Helfrich.
I also scored his Fat, Dumb, and Happy, and I helped him with music directing for Lester.
Caprice for Trumpet and Two Pianos, written in December 2002, when it became obvious (to me) that the US would invade Iraq. The subtitle is: 2002, revisiting 1939, and it is a little reminiscent of Hindemith's trumpet sonata, although it is only 10 minutes long. In it, I explore two main ideas, the major triad and 6th's, and using very dense counterpoint, I try to show how easily our leaders destroy the lives of our young people. A study in destruction of beauty, really. There are also a couple of slow passages where I try to depict the battlefield the day after... I have adapted this work for trumpet, piano and strings, which works very well. This would be a good jury trumpet piece.
10 minutes, medium difficult.
Circa Circus Suite was written for Canadian Brass and Nexus, and so it is scored for brass quintet and percussion quintet.
CB and Nexus ended up not using it (there are timpani involved, and they were on tour), but it is a pretty nice set of tunes that take the listener into the world of the circus, which I know pretty well, having been in it for 18 years.
40 minutes, medium easy except for one movement that is extremely difficult for the xylophone (written for Becker, of Nexus).
Fantasia for Brass Quintet is a 10 minute piece for brass quintet with a nice open fanfare and a lot of fugue-ish passages.
10 minutes, difficult.
Out of the Fog is a brass quintet with percussion piece (6 players), written for the CF2 concert series to benefit K9's for Warriors in 2014. My task was to depict RETRIBUTION, SURRENDER, ACCEPTANCE.
8 minutes, medium difficult.
Into the Light, a short prelude and fugue in the baroque style, for trumpet and organ, or trumpet and strings, or brass quintet.
5 minutes, medium easy, with a long phrase in the fugue.
Petite Pièce Québécoise is a 12 minute, three movement piece, commissioned and performed with the Orlando Philharmonic for trumpet and strings in 2015. Three memories from my childhood were the seeds for each movement. Very successful indeed. I also performed this in a version for trumpet, four horns and tuba in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2016, and I have a version for trumpet and brass quintet which would work very well.
12 minutes, quite difficult (third movement), the first two are quite easy. This would be an excellent end college senior recital or jury piece.
Cello Concertino, Petit Concerto por mon Garçon. A one movement concert piece for cello and full orchestra. Reminiscent of Shostakovitch #1, this is a playful piece with an easy orchestra accompaniment, an substantial cadenza, and a last section that culminates in a full blown climax rarely heard in a string concerto. This piece remains unpremiered, although Jean-Marie is ready whenever you are...
10 minutes, difficult cello part, medium easy orchestra part.
Petite Fête de Sax is a very fun, challenging short piece for saxophone ensemble (1 sopranino, 1 soprano, 1 alto, 2 tenors, 2 baris and a bass). It was performed about a dozen times by the Hippocrene Ensemble, including at the 2016 North American Sax Association, in Texas. This could work for flute ensemble as well, provided there is a contrabass flute available. It includes playing pads (without blowing air), as sole extended technique. Also available for flute choir.
5 minutes, difficult.
Tuba Sonatina #1 is a 10 minute, three movement piece that is a welcomed addition to the tuba repertoire (if I say so myself). It was commissioned and premiered by Bob Carpenter at Tanglewood in 2016. Also available with strings and woodwind quintet.
10 minutes, medium difficult.
I am now working on a guitar sonata movement.
I also have written a METHOD FOR JAZZ called: Jazz in 7 Minutes a Day, a 176 page book to help musicians who do not specialize in jazz gain phrasing, facility and vocabulary in the jazz idiom. Available for concert, trumpet, tenor sax, Eb, and F and bass clef instruments.
Ideal for high school and college, this book is the result of my work teaching at McGill University and Boone High School. This is the seventh version of the book. It contains 36 weekly lessons, divided in three 12 week blocks, to be practiced every day, and 25 pages of bonus material. I hope to have youTube videos to play along in the next year. The lessons take at most 12 minutes to get through, and get quicker as the week progresses, as the tempi will undoubtedly speed up as one gets more comfortable with the material. Scales, patterns and reading exercises, all meant to be played as a group, plus theory concepts that will make anyone understand jazz tonal harmony, and how to apply it when faced with playing a solo in a group. All of this in a very methodical way that still retains the listening aspect that is so important in all music, and jazz in particular. And one is encouraged to use rhythmic figures that one will encounter in rehearsal, making this a very valuable rehearsal tool indeed.
I have about one hundred jazz compositions, most in the post hard bop and latin styles. Two of them, fusing blues and African Fusion with contemporary jazz, were recorded by Michel Cusson and the Wild Unit, and another was recorded on Live at Timucua by the Timucua Jazz Orchestra.
I wrote 12 circus like tunes in 1999, a couple of which ended up in a feature film: The 7 Lives of Chances, by Banks Helfrich.
I also scored his Fat, Dumb, and Happy, and I helped him with music directing for Lester.
Caprice for Trumpet and Two Pianos, written in December 2002, when it became obvious (to me) that the US would invade Iraq. The subtitle is: 2002, revisiting 1939, and it is a little reminiscent of Hindemith's trumpet sonata, although it is only 10 minutes long. In it, I explore two main ideas, the major triad and 6th's, and using very dense counterpoint, I try to show how easily our leaders destroy the lives of our young people. A study in destruction of beauty, really. There are also a couple of slow passages where I try to depict the battlefield the day after... I have adapted this work for trumpet, piano and strings, which works very well. This would be a good jury trumpet piece.
10 minutes, medium difficult.
Circa Circus Suite was written for Canadian Brass and Nexus, and so it is scored for brass quintet and percussion quintet.
CB and Nexus ended up not using it (there are timpani involved, and they were on tour), but it is a pretty nice set of tunes that take the listener into the world of the circus, which I know pretty well, having been in it for 18 years.
40 minutes, medium easy except for one movement that is extremely difficult for the xylophone (written for Becker, of Nexus).
Fantasia for Brass Quintet is a 10 minute piece for brass quintet with a nice open fanfare and a lot of fugue-ish passages.
10 minutes, difficult.
Out of the Fog is a brass quintet with percussion piece (6 players), written for the CF2 concert series to benefit K9's for Warriors in 2014. My task was to depict RETRIBUTION, SURRENDER, ACCEPTANCE.
8 minutes, medium difficult.
Into the Light, a short prelude and fugue in the baroque style, for trumpet and organ, or trumpet and strings, or brass quintet.
5 minutes, medium easy, with a long phrase in the fugue.
Petite Pièce Québécoise is a 12 minute, three movement piece, commissioned and performed with the Orlando Philharmonic for trumpet and strings in 2015. Three memories from my childhood were the seeds for each movement. Very successful indeed. I also performed this in a version for trumpet, four horns and tuba in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2016, and I have a version for trumpet and brass quintet which would work very well.
12 minutes, quite difficult (third movement), the first two are quite easy. This would be an excellent end college senior recital or jury piece.
Cello Concertino, Petit Concerto por mon Garçon. A one movement concert piece for cello and full orchestra. Reminiscent of Shostakovitch #1, this is a playful piece with an easy orchestra accompaniment, an substantial cadenza, and a last section that culminates in a full blown climax rarely heard in a string concerto. This piece remains unpremiered, although Jean-Marie is ready whenever you are...
10 minutes, difficult cello part, medium easy orchestra part.
Petite Fête de Sax is a very fun, challenging short piece for saxophone ensemble (1 sopranino, 1 soprano, 1 alto, 2 tenors, 2 baris and a bass). It was performed about a dozen times by the Hippocrene Ensemble, including at the 2016 North American Sax Association, in Texas. This could work for flute ensemble as well, provided there is a contrabass flute available. It includes playing pads (without blowing air), as sole extended technique. Also available for flute choir.
5 minutes, difficult.
Tuba Sonatina #1 is a 10 minute, three movement piece that is a welcomed addition to the tuba repertoire (if I say so myself). It was commissioned and premiered by Bob Carpenter at Tanglewood in 2016. Also available with strings and woodwind quintet.
10 minutes, medium difficult.
I am now working on a guitar sonata movement.
I also have written a METHOD FOR JAZZ called: Jazz in 7 Minutes a Day, a 176 page book to help musicians who do not specialize in jazz gain phrasing, facility and vocabulary in the jazz idiom. Available for concert, trumpet, tenor sax, Eb, and F and bass clef instruments.
Ideal for high school and college, this book is the result of my work teaching at McGill University and Boone High School. This is the seventh version of the book. It contains 36 weekly lessons, divided in three 12 week blocks, to be practiced every day, and 25 pages of bonus material. I hope to have youTube videos to play along in the next year. The lessons take at most 12 minutes to get through, and get quicker as the week progresses, as the tempi will undoubtedly speed up as one gets more comfortable with the material. Scales, patterns and reading exercises, all meant to be played as a group, plus theory concepts that will make anyone understand jazz tonal harmony, and how to apply it when faced with playing a solo in a group. All of this in a very methodical way that still retains the listening aspect that is so important in all music, and jazz in particular. And one is encouraged to use rhythmic figures that one will encounter in rehearsal, making this a very valuable rehearsal tool indeed.
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