This piece I wrote to commemorate the retirement of a dear friend and cherished mentor, Michael Sakatch. 90th Avenue is the street that Lord Beaverbrook High School is located, and I thought it would be a fitting treatment to title the piece after it.

90th Avenue

This was a chart I wrote to feature some of my unique abilities on the saxophone and the players I had the pleasure of working with while at The University of North Texas. This piece has won two major awards from JEN and ASCAP.

The Beat In Progress

This was one of my more in-depth explorations of programmatic music. The image of the music is explained below:

Moraine Lake is one of the most breathtakingly gorgeous places I've experienced, and it is just in my backyard in Calgary. The image I was going for was that of a camera traveling throughout the lake and surrounding scenery. For the introduction, I'm projecting the camera's frame of reference as only the surface of the lake at dawn, mirror-like, but shaded with the hue of the lake (D Lydian has a very turquoise hue for me).

The continuo starts, and we plunge deep into the abyss of the lake, where we are at the mercy of the currents and turbulent waters (represented by the motion of the clarinets and the harmony, swirling, constantly unresolved, cadencing to places that are unrelated to the original key). We are pushed side to side by different forces (trumpets and bass clarinet), and weaving in and out of the detritus of the lake bed. The rise and fall of the counter-melody is representative of the he pulsation of the flora in the middle depths of the lake -- imagine seaweed at the mercy of currents.

A few dramatic moments arise as we longingly see the light from the surface break through the darkness, but there is inherent sadness and conflict, as the camera is beneath the surface, at the mercy of the depths.

We arrive at a shallow depth for the bass and piano solos, where the waters are no longer as dark and heavy, culminating in a frightening encounter with a northern pike, which immediately darts away, much to our relief. 

Finally, as the fauna of the lake begin to surround us, encouraging the camera ever skyward, we arrive at the surface to fly over the lake, and witness it in context for the first time -- the mountains appearing majestically, their sharp edges reflecting crisply off of the polished, reflective surface of the lake. The sun is blazing incandescently, and we end the piece by pointing the camera directly into the star, filling our entire field of view with light, blinding us and searing a vermilion hue onto our retinas.

Moraine Lake

I wrote this when I was 20 years old, and it was my first completed Big Band chart. Little did I know it would be revived as the closer for the Spring 2014 Two O'Clock Lab Band at the University of North Texas. They absolutely destroy the living daylights out of my humble arrangement. Enjoy!

Jonathan Mones and Brad Kang are the soloists.

Nardis - Two O'Clock Lab Band @ Denton Arts and Jazz 2014

One of my favourites from our performance at Kawa

John Buck is on Drums for Tieran Green

Right Round

From my big band recital. Written for 10 pieces: 2 Trumpets, 1 Trombone, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Guitar, Piano Bass, Drums

Scott Kruser (guitar) and Mark DeHertogh (Saxophone) are the soloists

Zhivago

This was a solo I transcribed earlier this year. I've always wanted to hear a piccolo led flute soli, so I decided to harmonize Dan's solo and overdub myself. All the parts were done in 2 takes or less.

Dan Higgins' Solo Harmonized - Samba Brassiliero

This is from the Rutgers Jazz ensemble's performance at the Blue Note in NYC in 2012. Featuring James Ohn on tenor saxophone. A not so subtle nod to Maria Schneider.

BrettMcMusic

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