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 b.1959
The Right Time
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 20th 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!