Download A Deeper Shade of Sax - All Saints Church, East Horndon

A Deeper Shade of Sax
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Charlotte Beattie
Soprano Saxophone
Charlotte was born in Nottingham and moved to Suffolk at the age of 10. She began learning the saxophone a
year later with Suffolk County Music Services and has been involved with the organisation ever since. Charlotte
accepted a place at the Institute and left her position as the band captain for the Suffolk Youth Wind Band. She
now studies saxophone with Jeffery Wilson and is part of numerous ensembles including local jazz bands
‘Swing Street’ and ‘Horn Factory,’ whom she gigs with on a regular basis.
Benjamin Hill
Alto Saxophone
Ben started to play the saxophone at school from the age of 11 and went on to join the local music centre at 14
playing in various ensembles. He has performed in the Royal Festival Hall with the Hillingdon Youth
Saxophone Group and has played in many concerts with Hillingdon Jazz orchestra. A first year student at
Colchester Institute studying a BA in music, he is involved in many ensembles and performs with local Ska and
Punk bands in the area.
Nicole Rushforth
Tenor Saxophone
Nicole started playing saxophone at the age of 11. Whilst at school she played in local orchestras and smaller
ensembles. She now studies at Colchester Institute, studying saxophone with Jeffery Wilson and is gaining
knowledge of many styles of music for the instrument. She is a member of many ensembles at the Institute,
including some on her second study instrument the clarinet. Nicole performs regularly in the Essex area with
funk bands The Slicknotes and The Undercovers. This year Nicole performed in the Colchester Institute solo
woodwind competition and was highly commended for her performance. She is going into her final this
September and will be majoring in performance.
Luke Mitchell
Baritone Saxophone
Luke is relatively new to the saxophone, having only taken it up for this ensemble. He is a study clarinettist and
singer, having studied these for the past nine years. Under the tuition of Charles Hine, Luke has won both the
solo woodwind and concerto competitions at the Institute, adjudicated by Antony Bailey. His enthusiasm for the
ensemble inspired him to compose two pieces for it, one entitled ‘Reigns of Sorrow,’ which won first prize in
the composers’ competition judged by Vincent Lindsey Clark. He has a love for The Netherlands and is
auditioning to study over there next year.
Programme
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Karen Street
The Right Time
b.1959
Karen wrote her first saxophone works when she began to teach the instrument, having realised there was a
minimal amount of repertoire at a beginner level. She now writes in a variety of styles for both solo and
ensemble saxophone. 'The Right Time' was created at the request of Boosey and Hawkes to create three
ensemble books. These were written for Fairer Sax, Street’s all female quartet. The piece is a rock ballad with
the soprano ‘singing’ the melody almost like a lead vocal with a beautiful accompanying line.
Joseph Kosma
1905-1969
Autumn Leaves – Arr. Jeffery Wilson
Having been banned from composition during the Occupation of France throughout the Second World War,
Kosma was approached by the screenwriter Jacques Prévert to write music for film, under the guise of other
composers. It was through this partnership that Kosma set music to one of Prévert’s poems “Les feuilles
mortes” (The Dead Leaves). By 1947, the American songwriter Johnny Mercer translated the song into English
and not before long; the song became a jazz standard in a multitude of languages. The song depicts how the
sight of autumn leaves falling makes you realise how much you miss the one you love. This particular
arrangement showcases the tenor saxophone.
Scott Joplin
1867-1917
Joplin was an African American composer/pianist born into the first post-slavery generation. He is regarded as
the king of ragtime, having written 44 original pieces under such a style and is charged with revolutionising
American music and culture.
Ragtime Dance – Arr. Terence J. Thompson
The original version of Ragtime Dance was a commercial failure, being a short choreographed ragtime folk
ballet. It initially depicted a ball with four participating couples. John Stillwell Stark then arranged the work as a
piano ragtime, with no choreography. Instead, cover art illustrated an African American couple dancing in
formal clothing. Referred to as a ‘Stop-Time Two Step,’ the piece originally highlighted an effect where the
pianist stamps the heel of his foot in time with the beat.
The Entertainer – Arr. B & Ph. Marillia
Used by ice cream trucks in the U.S.A, The Entertainer is a worldwide standard, and one of the best of Joplin’s
compositions. It is a rag time two step, a popular dance until the turn of the 20 th Century. It depicts the sounds
made by Mandolins and was dedicated to James Brown and his Mandolin Club.
Richard Rodgers
1902-1979
My Funny Valentine – Arr. Jeffery Wilson
Rodgers wrote the music to over 40 Broadway musicals, and is best known for his collaborations with the
lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, the former of which wrote the lyrics to this song. My Funny
Valentine is from the musical Babes in Arms and is sung by the character Billie Smith to Valentine LaMar. He
initially mocks her personality but declaims that he makes her happy and that she wouldn’t have him any other
way. This particular arrangement showcases the Baritone sax as a soloist within the quartet.
Jeffery Wilson
Megan and Cei
Jeff has had a third of his 150 works published, and has worked all over Europe as a performer, composer and
teacher. He has studied under Gordon Jacob and Oliver Messiaen, and has been commissioned by numerous
well known artists in all fields of music. Megan and Cei depicts the characteristics of two children. The first,
Megan, is an elegiac ballad. Cei, on the other hand, is represented by a “French” style dance. The two
contrasting illustrations are representative of the two children, of which Cei took a while in learning how to
walk. This is shown through cross rhythms in the music.
George Gershwin
1898-1937
A composer of many genres, Gershwin is mostly known for his Broadway shows, written in collaboration with
his brother Ira. Numerous artists have recorded interpretations of his works, now jazz standards through their
commercial appeal.
An American In Paris – Arr. Nigel Wood 1988
This work was originally a symphonic composition for the New York Philharmonic. It was inspired by
Gershwin’s trip to Paris in the 1920s. The piece is notable for the addition of celesta, saxophone and card horns
to the orchestra. The story can essentially be divided into three parts. The first, is the initial culture shock of the
French atmosphere; the blues section then depicts the American’s succumbing to homesickness and the third is
his returning appreciation for the French atmosphere.
Summertime – Arr. Jeffery Wilson
Summertime was initially an aria at the beginning of Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess. The song is now a
popular jazz standard. It is a lullaby sung by the character Clara, to her baby. Gershwin explained that he based
the song on a Ukranian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (A Dream Passes By The Windows)
Gavin Whitlock
Celtic Suite
1. Midnight In Kinsale
2. Love Song
3. Ceilidh
Gavin is a big fan of lower instruments, almost immediately specialising in the larger saxophones when he
started to learn the instrument. He has toured all over Europe since leaving Trinity College of Music and has
clearly been influenced by the many places he has visited. Despite being his first classical composition, this
suite is hugely inspired by celtic folk rhythms and jazz melodies. The three contrasting movements are an
accumulation of a weekend of gigs performed around Cork in October 1999, encompassing the full scope of
each saxophone within the quartet, a real showcase piece!