I STILL GET CHILLS LISTENING TO THIS FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS !!!!

After years of collaboration with a fine group of crazy creatives, the animated feature-length movie I've been helping to score - Western Space Odyssey - is finally released to the public on YouTube! There's also an original soundtrack album available on most major streaming services, and a special "Back 40" extended edition of the OST on BandCamp.  A multi-artist remix album of one of the songs from the movie is coming soon.

This track is a short extract from the underscore of the start of Act 2.   It describes the reaction of the crew of the Toasted Western to unexpectedly encountering another starship, piloted by their nemesis, deep in uncharted space.  To fully appreciate the situation you have to see Rik Berryere's hilarious animation and hear the banter of the voice actors as the crew tries to decide how to handle their dire situation.

The movie may be viewed at: https://youtu.be/JgOja3C3eoM

Plot Synposis: When newly-promoted Captain Sheriff Plantagenet Clamdip - of the Planet Massachusetts - arrives at the most distant outpost of the Western Federation to take command of the BFS (Big Frikkin' Ship) 'Toasted Western', he barely avoids getting fragged by his own cowboy crew in the first thirty seconds.  But, as fragging a new Captain Sheriff in the first week is mostly frowned upon, the crew reluctantly comes together to head out on their first mission.


There are some earlier versions of small bits of the soundtrack I've left on my SoundCloud page for posterity.  The latest versions are, of course, now in the movie and on the OST album.

Album Cover Artwork: Rik Berryere and Jef Leeson

Western Space Odyssey (The Official Soundtrack)

Western Space Odyssey Soundtrack Teaser

Teaser For Western Space Odyssey Soundtrack

An American Air Force pilot during the Korean War falls in love with a famous Japanese dancer. Difficulties ensue. 
This was a classic film from the 50s staring Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka.
Here is my original score inspired by the film.

Charles Mazarakes's Album

SAYONARA

cut like a knife

Somehow

A short breezy piece for dance to tickle you with. 
Featuring Flute, Sax, Strings and Woodblock.

Here's the video link:
https://youtu.be/2xkGOzvVTMk
Here put to a dance video based on the choreography by Christin Olsen for the song Feeling Good.  
Choreographer/Dancer Dominique Domingo recreated the dance with herself dancing along with Britney Gale, and Alyx Andrushuk.

A Little Dance

Composer: John Burge
Performance: Florida All State Elementary Choir
Publisher: Cypress Choral Music Inc.

visit https://cypresschoral.com to study the score while you listen

Wind - by John Burge

Someone asked me if I had been making music. Well, not lately--but I had this track sitting on my hard drive from not too long ago. It's a work-in-progress, so maybe I'll return to it and do some more another time. 
But for now...enjoy.

Sea of Tranquility

autumn

A live performance of 'Listening' at the opening concert of the Midwest Composers Symposium: Brett Scott conducts the CCM Chorale (University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) with soloist Alea Vernon.  

Poetry by Tim Hunt, used with permission. www.tahunt.com

Listening -- CCM Chorale (2016)

"The Eagle Tree" was commissioned by the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in honor of their 90th season. 

Instrumentation: 2222 2200 Timp 87553
Duration: ca. 9'
Program notes:
The San Juan Islands are tucked away in the very northwestern-most corner of the Pacific Northwest, with Guemes Island as the first, and the smallest, in the archipelago. It has its own tiny ferry to shuttle a few cars at a time back and forth from Anacortes, Washtington. Tourists mostly pass over the unassuming island in favor of other, larger islands’ offering, leaving Guemes’ beautiful craggy cliffs and timbered hills mostly to its peaceful residents. There’s a part of me that grew up on this island, spending slow, quiet childhood summers with my grandparents.

Many years later, in the summer of 2017, I visited their old yellow house overlooking the Guemes Channel and Deadman’s Cove, overwhelmed by the juxtaposition of my childhood memories with the present. The wood of the deck, once brightly painted, was now peeling. My grandfather’s rocking chair from which he once surveyed the passing sailboats was gone, my grandmother’s lushly verdant garden on the edge of the cliff now overgrown and wild.

Yet the way the salt-spray crashed over the ferry deck as it rushed across the channel in the early morning light; the way the proud bald eagle surveyed the water from his gnarled, wind-scrabbled tree; and the way the gentle light would change at sunset in the crisp, cool air when the water grew still and the world turned orange and lavender, these living images beyond the Eagle Tree were the same, and always will be.

My grandparents’ old home has now been sold, and a new child has taken my place in the yellow house with its eagle tree on the cliff. I can never go back, but I will always remember. 

The Eagle Tree is sectioned into three parts, opening with a joyful fanfare and flourish, followed by a hymn of remembrance and yearning, and then a juxtaposition of the island’s playful charm and the symbolic, bittersweet twilight-beauty it now inhabits in my memories. The Eagle Tree is a companion piece to my string quartet Images of Guemes and is dedicated to the memories of Verdon and Opal Spurlock, and to the spirit of the island.

The Eagle Tree (Premiere) - Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (Arie Lipsky) 11.10.18 - Jessica A. Hunt

Thanks to Miss Chaos (https://soundcloud.com/user-593889338) for letting me add vocals to her beautiful track!
Link to original: https://soundcloud.com/user-593889338/elevated

Instrumental and original mix: Miss Chaos
Vocals/remix: MystifiedMusic

Elevated (Miss Chaos)--Vocal Mix

Composer for media and performance including orchestral, choral, ambient and fusion works with a little jazz thrown in for variety...

Teaser For Western Space Odyssey Soundtrack

Doug Somers

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