Concertino for Clarinet
Aaron Grad
About this work:
Though jazz was my first musical love, I experienced a mounting frustration with its boundaries and preconceptions, especially while I completed a particularly rigid performance degree in Jazz Guitar. Now, after about five years of ignoring my fakebooks and 500 or so jazz albums, and at the prompting of clarinetist Alan R. Kay, I am re-examining the pivotal role jazz played in shaping my melodic, harmonic and rhythmic vocabularies. Each movement of this work investigates a different sector of jazz. The first, Ring tone, is the most “classical” movement in the piece. Certain elements were inspired by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, especially his Brazilian-themed album Native Dancer, which I always found to be one of the most beautiful and boundary-defying in all of jazz. The “Ring tone” theme is an exact transcription of Alan’s cell phone ring. The second movement, Ballad, is a reflection on the classic show tunes of George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern. The last movement, Closer, revisits the brand of jazz I used to write and perform with my band.
Year composed: 2005
Duration: 00:17:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, ,1 Clarinet soloist(s), 1 Bass Clarinet, 1 Horn in F, 1 Trumpet, 1 Piano, 1 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello, 1 Double bass
Instrumentation notes: flute doubles on piccolo, trumpet doubles on flugelhorn