Friday
November 10, 2006
7:00 p.m.
David Greer Concert Hall
Bloomingdale School of Music
323 West 108th Street
New York, NY 10025
(212) 663–6021
1 train (map) to 110th street and Broadway, walk
south for two blocks to 108th street, make a right towards Riverside Drive, the
school is half way between Broadway and Riverside Drive.
Nearby buses (map), M104, M4, M116, M60, M5. Other MTA
maps available from their website. |
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New Music for Jazz Quintet
Description:
This concert presents music arranged and
composed for jazz quintet. All of the selections are either
original works or thorough reworkings of standard and contemporary
repertoire. It is as much a showcase for composition and arranging
as it is for performance.
Next Time is multi-sectional, tiered piece originally written for guitar quintet, adapted here for guitar, sax, piano, bass, and drums. It utilizes a wide range of dynamic levels and feels.
Opened Once is an undiscovered gem by the immensely
popular singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, released on the posthumous "Sketches
for my Sweetheart the Drunk". It's powerful melody carries
beautifully over to a modern instrumental setting.
Stella by Starlight is an evergreen standard played by every jazz musician. My arrangment puts it in a minor key and re-works almost the entired harmonic backdrop for the melody, transforming it into something unfamiliar.
Con Alma is a Dizzy Gillespie classic. This arrangement opens with an original prelude and follows a pedal point harmony from the tonic to the tritone in strict successsion, casting it in a darker, more contemplative mold.
Originally for nonet, Uh-Oh is among Mr. Mollica's most ambitious
pieces, and features a big-band approach to sections and part
writing. It is a hard-driving fast swing with a variety of
deceptive rhythms.
A Little on Edge Lately features stylistic borrowings from modern electronica. It's pulse is a racing breakbeat up around 400bpm and shows a side of modern "jazz" with no reference to standard harmony or swing rhythm.
Lullaby is a slow exploration through chromatic harmony perhaps more common in "classical" composition than in jazz. It was originally intended for clarinet and piano, but has proven adaptable to improvisation, as well.
Program:
Mark Mollica
Next Time
Uh-Oh
A Little on Edge Lately
Lullaby
Jeff Buckley
arr. Mark Mollica
Opened Once
Victor Young/Ned Washington
Stella by Starlight
Dizzy Gillespie
arr. Mark Mollica
Con Alma
Performers:
Mark Mollica, guitar
Bill McHenry, saxophone
Jesse Stacken, piano
Henry Lugo, bass
Adam Christgau, drums |
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