Myron Moss: American Wind Symphony 'afforded Nelson his greatest opportunities in concert-music composition.'

[TOP: Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002)] BOTTOM: Oliver Nelson (AllAboutJazz.com)]

Many music websites do not carry Out of the Depths, but we have been able to obtain it from one source, www.FoothillRecords.com/cita-classical.html, for $8.99 plus shipping. Oliver Nelson is composer of the final two tracks on Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers, Fugue (3:41) and Bossa (4:03). Dr. Myron D. Moss tells us in the liner notes:

“This recording concludes with Oliver Nelson's Fugue and Bossa. Nelson (1932-1975) is well known as a jazz saxophonist and composer whose 'Blues and the Abstract Truth' album is commonly included on lists of all-time best jazz recordings. Robert Boudreau, the enterprising creator of the American Wind Symphony, commissioned a wide range of composers to write for the ensemble, and it is Boudreau who afforded Nelson his greatest opportunities in concert-music composition. (Boudreau also commissioned black composers J. J. Johnson, Ulysses Kay, T. J. Anderson, and Hale Smith, all of whom responded with substantial pieces.) Nelson's pieces for the Wind Symphony included a study in 5/4 which featured Dizzy Gillespie, a Concerto for Percussion, Complex City, and the Fugue and Bossa recorded here.

“The fugue is Contrapunctus 1 from Bach's 'Art of Fugue.' Nelson's sensitive scoring is for double reeds, flute, trumpet, horn, and organ, and includes some discrete doublings and octave couplings. The overall sonority is a new one for the much-played fugue. For a second movement, Nelson writes an original Bossa-Nova to which he adds Bach's 'Art of the Fugue' theme in inversion as a countermelody in lower woodwinds. If jazzing Bach had been done often by the time this was written in 1973, Nelson has nonetheless added both a thoughtful transcription and a fiery original piece to the genre. The jazz solos, improvised at the recording session, reflect Nelson's own practice when playing with Boudreau's Wind Symphony. Without any explicit indication on the score, he simply improvised over the form of the piece. The opening of the saxophone solo on this recording, with its reworkings of Nelson's theme, is especially effective.” [Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917-1995) and Hale Smith (1925-2009) are profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features comprehensive Works Lists by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

'Take A Chance' is a Recorded Work of Hale Smith, Who Passed Away Nov. 24, 2009

[Hale Smith; Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002)]

Today, Nov. 24, 2011, is the second anniversary of the passing of the innovative composer Hale Smith (1925-2009), who is featured at AfriClassical.com, which presents his complete Works List as compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. Hale Smith contributed richly to both Jazz and Classical Music. This seems an appropriate occasion to discuss Take A Chance (10:54), the composition of Hale Smith on the recording Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers. Dr. Myron Moss writes the liner notes:

“Hale Smith's music puts a less-expressionist, more human face on atonal composition. Born in Cleveland in 1925, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He had a single composition teacher, Marcel Dick, whom he credits with evoking the individuality of his students (including Gardner Read and Donald Erb), while conveying the range of twelve-tone and atonal approaches to composition. Smith has focused on songs and choral pieces from early in his career, including the widely-praised In Memoriam Beryl Rubinstein (1953). His orchestral pieces Contours, Ritual and Incantations, and Innerflexions have all been recorded.

“Smith began writing band music while working as an editor at Frank Music for Arnold Broido. In the early 1960s Broido wanted to start a series bringing contemporary compositional techniques to school-music compositions. This 'Adventures in Form' series ultimately included Vaclav Nelhybel's Prelude and Fugue and Don Gillis' Instant Music. Broido had Smith start the series with Somersault, a twelve-tone piece, and Take A Chance, a piece with aleatoric elements. Take A Chance consists of five long statements ('variations') all based on the same warm-sounding but atonal harmonic structure. Variation I may be taken as the initial theme, Smith calls it 'a passionate song.' Variation II is a light-hearted march. Variations III and IV allow individual improvisation on prescribed notes; improvisation is especially necessary in Variation IV, where it provides the only melody. Smith's notes on the score also propose that the performing ensemble combine any two variations simultaneously, and experiment with varying the instrumentation within variations. In the performance recorded here, conductor/composer Jack Stamp has responded to Smith's invitation. His scheme for this performance consists of Variation I, Variation V, Variation II, Variations I and II together, the Variation IV (featuring improvising soloists on flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet), and finally the combination of Variations I and V. (These segments sometimes follow each other without pause. It may assist listeners in keeping track of the form to know that each segment is about 1:50 long.) What is recorded here is but one realization of a work that reflects not only high craftmanship with atonal materials, but also high confidence, characteristic of the sixties, in the artistic capacity of our youth in public schools.”

'Solemn Prelude' of Ulysses Kay 'becomes considerably more intricate in its bitonal climactic passages'

[ABOVE: Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Myron D. Moss, Guest Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002) BELOW: Ulysses S. Kay]

Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917-1995) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. Track 3 of Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers is Solemn Prelude of Ulysses S. Kay. Guest Conductor Myron D. Moss directs the Keystone Wind Ensemble. He also writes the liner notes of the CD:

“Ulysses Kay (1917-1995) was among the first black composers to work in an 'internationalist' style, directly affected by the music of Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Bartok. Kay studied with Rogers and Hanson at Eastman, and Hindemith at Tanglewood and Yale. Though Kay is never identified as an 'Eastman Group' composer, in the mold of Hanson or Peter Mennin, the lyricism, formal clarity and relatively conservative harmony associated with that group pervades his music. He won critical acceptance swiftly, writing several well-received orchestral pieces before turning 30. His Of New Horizons from 1944 won an American Broadcasting Company prize and was the piece by which he was represented in a 1958 U.S. State Department cultural exchange with the Soviet Union. His compositions include a great deal of vocal and choral music, four operas, and major orchestral works (his Fantasy Variations is included on Citadel CTD 881124). Kay, like Roger Dickerson, served in a military band, and he ultimately composed six band pieces.

“Solemn Prelude was commissioned by Donald Moore at Baylor University and premiered in 1949. Kay says he set out to create, 'symphonic expression using quite simple musical materials.' Kay was famously modest and he is being so here. The opening melody with its modal accompaniment is simple sounding (and lovely), but the piece becomes considerably more intricate in its bitonal climactic passages and in the transparently scored final minutes.”

This CD is available from a small number of retailers. The best price we have found is $8.99 at FoothillRecords.com:

http://www.foothillrecords.com/detail-pages/citadel-ctd/143depths.html

Myron Moss: "Hailstork's program note for 'Out of the Depths' explains that the piece traces a life cycle"

[ABOVE: Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Spiritual for brass octet (9:36); Out of the Depths for concert band (13:16); Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002) BELOW: Adolphus C. Hailstork]

As we have noted previously, Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers is available from only a few retailers. FoothillRecords.com offers it for $8.99 plus shipping:

http://www.foothillrecords.com/detail-pages/citadel-ctd/143depths.html

Yesterday we quoted from the liner notes, written by Dr. Myron Moss. Today we continue: “Not long after Jim Europe's war, bands began to assemble a concert-music repertoire, emulating the serious music played by symphony orchestras. This recording surveys black composers' contributions to that literature. The pieces range from Clarence Cameron White's Triumphal March, written in 1927, to Gary Nash's 1997 Fraternal Prelude. Many of these performances are premiere recordings, for this music is still little-known.

“Appropriately, the program begins with Adolphus Hailstork's Spiritual, whose genre and thematic material reflect the historical origin of African-American music. Hailstork (b. 1941) has enjoyed recognition for his choral, orchestral, and instrumental music.” “He has been an award winner since the beginning of his career. Mourn Not the Dead won the 1971 Ernest Bloch Award for choral composition. Celebration was among the 1976 J. C. Penney Bicentennial Commissions and was recorded by the Detroit Symphony. Out of the Depths won the 1977 Belwin Mills Max Winkler Award, presented by the College Band Directors National Association.

“Hailstork's Spiritual was written for the four trumpets and four trombones of the Edward Tarr Brass Ensemble. As with several of Hailstork's pieces, Spiritual fuses two apparently disparate styles. The plaintive opening trumpet solo evokes the spiritual at its most fundamental, vocal music unadorned with harmony or accompaniment. The following development is in neo-classic style, with insistent rhythmic energy, sharp, dissonant chords, and fugal passages, all based on melodic material that is related to the opening. Hailstork has stated that spirituals are the source from which black American music emerges, and here he has crafted a fully modern piece that directly traces its roots to that source. In the brass repertoire, Spiritual's antecedent is Infolf Dahl's great Music for Brass, whose treatment of a Bach chorale uses similar compositional devices to respectfully project devotional music of an earlier time into the polystylistic present.

“Hailstork's program note for Out of the Depths explains that the piece traces a life cycle, from its spark of inception through a long ascent to a powerful climax and then a decline into peaceful resolution and silence. The actual sound of the music suggests (as does the title) something rather darker. The opening dwells on barely audible sounds, including slowly built-up clusters of sustained pitches and brief flashes of percussion. The piece gains momentum gradually in a series of slow rises and falls, culminating in music of considerable ferocity. Compositionally, Out of the Depths is largely based on just two melodic ideas. The first, played by the piccolo at the beginning of the piece, consists of an ascending motif of three notes. This rising figure is reprised powerfully at the music's climax. The second idea appears about 3:20 into the piece, when low woodwinds introduce a longer, downward-contoured melody, repeated in the bass and then played by clarinets and saxophones. This melody reappears several times, often as the bass line within a progression of dark chords. The richly dissonant harmonies and the massive effects created by overlapping blocks of instruments create a sense of glacially slow but inexorable movement.” [Adolphus C. Hailstork (b. 1941) is featured at AfriClassical.com]

Dr. Myron Moss; 'American band history includes some remarkable African-American contributions.'

[Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002)]

Dr. Myron D. Moss wrote the liner notes for a recording we have discussed frequently in recent days, Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers:

“American band history includes some remarkable African-American contributions. In the middle nineteenth century, for instance, composer and band leader Frank Johnson was the first American to program 'promenade concerts' in the European manner, attracting audiences in the thousands. Johnson led Philadelphia's premiere social orchestra and was the first African-American to publish music.

“W.C. Handy, famous as the 'father of the blues,' was also a band composer. His band works included both military marches such as 'Hail to the Spirit of Freedom' and jazzier items such as his setting of 'Loveless Love.' James Reese Europe led arguably the finest military band in U.S. Service during W.W. I. His 'Hellfighters' band drew enormous crowds in France at war's end, where the group's fabled 'ragging' style may have been France's introduction to the jazz that would soon win over the nation.” [Francis Johnson (1792-1844) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

Fanfare on 'Out of the Depths': 'Performances are winning, sound and recording outstanding'

[Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002).]

We wrote about the above recording on Oct. 23, 2011. Today we list the complete program of the CD, and include an enthusiastic comment from Fanfare Magazine, along with a comment submitted by email by Michael S. Wright:

“Bill,

One for me to order up! I am also glad that Roger Dickerson’s ‘Essay for Band’ is also featured along with Gary Nash’s work.

Regards

Mike.”

Jack Stamp is listed as Conductor of the CD, but two tracks have a Guest Conductor, Dr. Myron D. Moss. They are Solemn Prelude by Ulysses Kay (5:49) and Essay for Band by Roger Dickerson (9:51). The website of Foothill Records quotes Fanfare Magazine: "Performances are winning, sound and recording outstanding, and copious, in-depth notes... What more could one ask for? This CD is not specialist fare; it is urgently recommended for everyone."

Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers is available from only a few retailers. The best price we found was $8.99 at FoothillRecords.com:

http://www.foothillrecords.com/detail-pages/citadel-ctd/143depths.html

1. Spiritual – Adolphus Hailstork 9:36

2. Out of the Depths – Adolphus Hailstork 13:16

3. Solemn Prelude* - Ulysses Kay 5:49

4. Fraternal Prelude – Gary Powell Nash 5:45

5. Essay for Band* - Roger Dickerson 9:51

6. Triumphal March – Clarence Cameron White 3:31

7. Take a Chance – Hale Smith 10:54

8. Fugue 3:41 and

9. Bossa – Oliver Nelson 4:03

Keith Young, saxophone and Robert Maglocci, trumpet

Total Time 67:36

*Guest Conductor, Myron Moss

[Adolphus C. Hailstork, Ulysses S. Kay and Hale Smith are featured at AfriClassical.com,which presents complete Works Lists for Ulysses Kay and Hale Smith by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

'The discography for Adolphus Hailstork at AfriClassical.com does not include a recording we actually NAMED for his music'

[Adolphus C. Hailstork; Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers; Spiritual for brass octet (9:36); Out of the Depths for Concert Band (13:16); Keystone Wind Ensemble; Jack Stamp, Conductor; Citadel 88143 (2002).]

This is the second informative note we have received from Myron D. Moss, Ph.D., Music Program Director at Drexel University:

“The discography for Adolphus Hailstork at AfriClassical.com does not include a recording we actually NAMED for his music: Out of the Depths, performed by the Keystone Winds, Citadel CD # CTD 88143. The recording includes Hailstork's Out of the Depths for Concert Band, and Spiritual, for brass octet.”

We are very pleased to learn of this recording, which features works by three composers who are featured at AfriClassical.com: Adolphus C. Hailstork, Ulysses S. Kay and Hale Smith. The Adolphus Hailstork page has just been modified. The site's pages on Ulysses Kay and Hale Smith will also be modified as a result of information related to Out of the Depths: Music by African-American Composers. This CD is available from only a small number of retailers. The best price we found was $8.99 at FoothillRecords.com:

http://www.foothillrecords.com/detail-pages/citadel-ctd/143depths.html