At The Colour Café
Faye-Ellen1 Silverman
About this work:
In writing a piece for the Monarch Brass (for the second International Women’s Brass Conference), I wanted to create a work which was light and fun, and one which made use of the soloistic capabilities of the players. The title of the piece came to me as I started sketching. A friend remarked that it reminded him of a jazz club with a drum set. From this image came the piece. While it is not a jazz work, it does rely on some jazz colorings, such as the opening with its tritone and fourth rather than piled up thirds, the snare drum accompanying the opening solo, and the use of jazz scales in one section. In addition to jazz shadings, various instrumental colorings are used, such as varied mutes and unconventional instrumental doublings (as when three trombones double selected notes of the opening tuba solo).
Throughout the work, there are solos which drift in and out, like bits of conversation overheard in a crowded room. This is especially true of the fast section, which alternates three soloistic sections (each at a different tempo) with fuller ensemble sections. Each “solo” section involves more instruments than the preceding one. The fuller section connecting the first and second solos includes parts of phrases based on three jazz scales (diminished on C#, diminished on C, and the Db augmented scale).
The form of the piece is Introduction, Fast Section, Slow Section, and Coda. Tempos acquire structural significance. The slow section returns to the tempo of the introduction. It relates to the opening through the use of fourths. This eventually leads to a transition based on the opening tuba melody, followed by a fast coda (at the same basic underlying tempo as the first fast section) which quotes from all three solos at their original tempos. The very end of the piece relates to the very beginning. It returns to a tempo exactly twice the speed of the opening and resolves to a fourth, now stated as a stable fifth.
Year composed: 1997
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 10+ players
Instrumentation: 4 Horn in F, 4 Trumpet, 2 Trombone, 1 Bass Trombone, 1 Tuba, 1 Percussion (General)
Instrumentation notes: C trumpets