Late Intermediate

Mr. “Satchmo” is a two-page work inspired by Louis Armstrong, a famous and influential American trumpeter, vocalist, and composer within Jazz. In measures three, four, seven, and eight, the right hand line imitates the style of Armstrong’s or “Satchmo’s” early trumpet playing. His particular trumpet style was known for being...

“Cancion De La Havana” is about two and a half pages long, and features the Western African (Nigerian) rhythmic pattern, which is basic for Afro-Cuban idioms. Measures 38-53 pulls strong influence from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and is reminiscent of Guaguanco music, which represents a combo of West African and...

“Bossa Brasilia” is two pages long and is inspired by the bossa nova from Brazil, which is a two measure rhythmic pattern in 4/4 time that doesn’t actually occur in this piece. The flavor and feeling is created through repetition of the dotted quarter and eighth note patterns in the...

“Blue Bird” is dedicated to Charlie “Bird” Parker and is a modern or chromatic blues consisting of twelve bars, which is like traditional blues but is expanded harmonically to include one or two chord changes in every bar. This piece is about two pages long, and is written in bebop...

“Cool-Trane” is a two page work inspired by John Coltrane and the title is a play on words on his name. This piece is the most difficult and most dissonant piece in the collection, and a performer needs to be familiar with Coltrane’s work in order to understand the complexities...

“Dance” for piano is a 4 page piece in 6/8 time, that sometimes switches to 9/8. It is marked presto, and has the feeling of two or three larger beats per measure. The writing is rhythmic, and could be a good introduction to complicated time signatures because it is not...