| ID | 3D2F9471-015A-4AD1-BD5A-CCA4E22A4DBC |
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| Titlecode | R00092 |
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| Title Name | Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra: Three Ethnic Dances |
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| Marketing Copy | "A delightful piece...While it is totally original, it nevertheless dredges up memories of Bernstein, Kurt Weill and even some Stan Kenton." --The Lafayette, IN Times |
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| Instrumentation | Clarinet Solo: 2+Picc.2.2.2: 4.3.3.1: Timp.Perc(2).Pno.Jazz Double Bass: Str |
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| Commission | Commissioned by the Akron Symphony |
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| Dedication | (not set) |
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| Program Notes | Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra: Three Ethnic Dances is what might loosely be called a Thirdstream work. It was written to feature the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Alan Balter, its dynamic conductor and clarinetist extraordinaire. My charge when I accepted the commission was to compose a work that showcased Balter's skill as a classical and jazz clarinetist and the Orchestra's versatility in both idioms. The clarinet's venerable tradition as a historically important jazz voice made this marriage all the more natural. My vision for this suite, which I actually conceptualized as a concerto, was to create a mix that borrowed certain language constructs and forms, gestures, rhythmic drive and the use of improvisation from jazz, and which took from European Art Music instrumentation (the symphony orchestra), particular traditional forms, and certain developmental techniques and contrapuntal procedures. The work's title and the names of the individual movements is heavily indebted to and influenced by a dance issuing from the black aesthetic. Movement I, "Jitterbug," is an obvious reference to a dance popular in the Swing Era. The musical materials include boogie-woogie ostinatos, blues scales and gestures, and rhythm & blues cliches as well as improvisation by the clarinet soloist, all of which is filtered through a prism of European classical traditions. Movement II, "Slow Drag," is a melancholy blues that attempts to evoke the smoke-filled after hours exoticism of a club or dance hall in Harlem or on the South Side of Chicago. The final movement, "Calypso," is my attempt to capture the gaiety and playful jauntiness of the music of my Caribbean cousins. The piece culminates in an exuberant outburst from the tutti orchestra. --David Baker |
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| Title Brand | 2 |
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| Year Composed | 1993 |
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| Copyright Number | (not set) |
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| Copyright Year | (not set) |
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| Duration | 23 |
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| Ensemble Size | 13 |
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| Date Created | 2008-10-31 20:31:49.000000 |
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| Date Updated | 2025-09-30 20:31:49 |
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| Inhouse Note | (not set) |
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| Bsc Code | (not set) |
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| Text Author | (not set) |
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| Premier Performance Memo | (not set) |
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| Recording Credits | (not set) |
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| Review | "Baker's [Jazz] Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra is a delightful piece...While it is totally original, it nevertheless dredges up memories of Bernstein, Kurt Weill and even some Stan Kenton. The colors are like a Mandrian painting with the attendant 1940's boogie woogie and yet, like the painting, there is a structure to the piece. The second movement featured a neat clarinet and double-bass duet that cleverly gave way to a rhythm and blues passage to die for.ÉThe rhythms make one want to board a plane and set down some where in the warm Caribbean, taking a CD of this work along to show the natives how it should be done..."-- Dick Jaeger, The Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier |
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| Awards | (not set) |
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| Title Category | 7 |
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| Title Movements | (not set) |
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| Title Grade | (not set) |
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| Set Series ID | (not set) |
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| Title Instrument Category Text | Full Orchestra |
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| Title Sub Category Text | (not set) |
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| Title Sub Category | 100 |
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| Title Instrument Header | 41 |
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| Title Grade Text | (not set) |
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| Clean Url | jazz-suite-for-clarinet-and-orchestra-three-ethnic-dances-r00092 |
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