Chamber instrumental music composed by Jennifer Bellor 
www.jenniferbellor.com

Jennifer Bellor - Chamber Instrumental Music

Jennifer Bellor, composer 
Music for saxophone choir, flute choir, horn choir, brass ensemble, wind orchestra

Jennifer Bellor - Music for winds (saxophone choir, flute choir, horn choir, wind orchestra)

Album LONG THESE DAYS release date: August 16, 2024 
Jennifer Bellor, composer

Long These Days is an art song concept album composed by Jennifer Bellor, featuring soprano Olivia Yokers, bass Norman Espinoza, electric guitarist Tasos Peltekis, and Bellor, herself, on piano.

This album embarks on a journey from the tender hues of dawn to the velvety depths of night, weaving a tapestry of emotion and introspection. Drawing inspiration from the timeless verses of Christina Rossetti and Pablo Neruda, the songs explore themes of love, empowerment, nostalgia, and longing with unparalleled depth and sincerity.

Throughout the album, instrumental interludes, skillfully crafted by Bellor on piano and Peltekis on electric guitar, serve as poignant bridges between the vocal narratives performed by Yokers and Espinoza. From the tender awakening of 'Dawn' to the wistful reverie of 'Eyelids Close', each interlude enriches the album's thematic depth.

Long These Days

ALBUM: LONG THESE DAYS (August 16, 2024)

Interludes from album LONG THESE DAYS
Music by Jennifer Bellor 
piano with electric guitar improvisation

Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar

INTERLUDES from album LONG THESE DAYS

High Resolution (2019), Overdrive (2010, rev. 2015), Seattle Skies (2015), Noir (2014), Midnight Swim (2012), and Out of the Shadows (orig. "Splash) (2011) were all premiered by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dave Rivello. 

The version of Out of the Shadows featuring trumpet and string quartet was premiered by Mike Kaupa. 

"Noir" for big band won the 2nd Annual Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra composition contest, and was performed in Seattle November 2014, featuring Grace Kelly on alto saxophone. Judges considered her piece “really beautiful and haunting,” and “reminiscent of Ornette’s collaboration with Howard Shore for the film Naked Lunch.”

"Midnight Swim" was awarded a 2013 DownBeat Outstanding Performance Award in the original composition/orchestrated work category at the graduate college level. The piece featured Colin Gordon on soprano saxophone.

Splash (2011) also featured Colin Gordon on soprano saxophone.
Overdrive (2010) features Graham Keir on guitar, Ethan Helm on soprano saxophone, and Aaron Staebell on drums.

"Bordello Nights," "Uprising" and "Electric Vortex" are all written for wind ensemble/wind orchestra featuring jazz combo. "Bordello nights" was recorded and released by Klavier on the UNLV Wind Orchestra album "The Return."

Jennifer Bellor - Jazz Compositions

for soprano saxophone, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums
Premiered at the 2013 Rochester Fringe Festival
Colin Gordon, soprano saxophone 
Wendy Eisenberg, electric guitar 
Matt Krol, electric bass
Aaron Staebell, drums.

Noir (2013) for jazz combo (soprano sax, electric guitar, electric bass, drums)

“Well, I sing by night, wander by day. I'm on the road and it looks like I"m here to stay." - Bob Dylan

The orchestral version was written for the concert, "Celebrating Student Success: A Tribute to Ken Hanlon" on March 4, 2022 at Ham Concert Hall, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 

I was inspired by these words when I was writing this four-minute orchestral version of Ballad of a Wanderer to honor the memory of Ken Hanlon. Virko mentioned to me that Ken and his wife loved to travel. The piece opens with a trombone feature, carrying us on a musical journey as melodies emerge from the various instrumental families of the orchestra. The pizzicato strings at the beginning adds to the whimsical atmosphere, which for me, is a reflection of Ken’s personality when he would stop briefly by my office for cheerful chats in between teaching. The piece ends with a trombone solo offstage, reflecting on the opening idea, now only heard by one lone traveler. Even though we are no longer interacting with the physical representation of Ken, his memories are still with us and his soul could still be traveling (“sing by night, wander by day”).

The original, 8-minute version of the piece was written for the Eastman Horn Choir for premiere March 22, 2022. 

www.jenniferbellor.com

Ballad of a Wanderer - for orchestra

Time's Arrest (2022 extended version)
Jennifer Bellor, composer 
featuring Brad Meyer (vibraphone) 
Recorded 2022
www.jenniferbellor.com

Time's Arrest (2021 extended version) feat. Brad Meyer on vibes

Skylark Lullaby (2014)
Jennifer Bellor, composer
Studio recording by the Eastman Saxophone Project December 2018. 
It will be featured on my second album released 2020.

Jennifer Bellor's compositions have been presented by Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, American Composers Orchestra, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra (SWOJO), Wuhan Philharmonic Chamber Series, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Lviv Philharmonic, ShoutHouse, Florida State University Festival of New Music, Hildegard Festival, Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, Eastman Saxophone project, UNLV Wind Orchestra, Elevate Ensemble, Hocket, Kansas Virtuosi,  Mivos Quartet, and many others in the US and abroad.  

The Eastman Saxophone Project (ESP) premiered Skylark Lullaby at the NASA Conference March 2014 at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, and also performed it at the Eastman School of Music in April 2014.  It was featured at the Florida State University new music festival in 2015 and the Society for Composers National Conference held at the University of New Mexico, March 2019. Additional performances have been by ensembles including South Sound Saxophone Ensemble and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Saxophone Ensemble, among others.

Bellor holds a PhD in music composition at Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree in composition at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music at Cornell University. She is on the composition faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and artistic director of the new music series Nextet. 

Note about the piece:
When I was writing Skylark Lullaby, I imagined a scene at sunset filled with beautiful types of birds communicating, flying towards and away from each other before darkness sets in and it is time to fall asleep. The independent melodic lines for each of the instruments intertwine with each other, often times coming together to contribute to the harmonic and melodic ideas already set up among the other instruments playing, and at other moments, change direction to share a new idea that will eventually be woven into the meditative landscape.

Reflections at Dusk

Skylark Lullaby - Eastman Saxophone Project

Recorded live at American Composers Orchestra's 2013 Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute New Music Readings. Please visit:  www.americancomposers.org

Crystal Skies was inspired by my experience skydiving for the first time in upstate New York. It was a chilly November day, and as the airplane ascended into the air, it became even more freezing thousands of feet above the ground. When the door of the plane opened and I stepped out onto the ledge, I couldn't wait to fall backwards and sink into the clouds. The freefall lasted approximately one minute, and then I felt like was just floating in the air. In my piece, I wanted to capture that feeling of being suspended in the chilly sky, as if I was flying. The string textures reflect the icy sky, portrayed by the artificial harmonics and ornamented lines that weave in and out of each other. The woodwinds represent birds gliding in the sky, and for a moment, I felt like a bird as I was slowly descending down to the ground. 

The first excerpt showcases the first 48 seconds of the piece, and the second excerpt showcases 2 minutes and 11 seconds of the middle section. Please contact me for more information on the piece.

Crystal Skies (2013) for orchestra (Excerpt - Middle)

This is a live recording of my composition Electric Vortex performed by the Eastman Wind Orchestra, December 13, 2013, under the direction of Jared Chase, featuring the jazz band "Bending and Breaking:"

Wills McKenna, tenor saxophone
Wendy Eisenberg, electric guitar
Matt Krols, electric bass
Aaron Staebell, drums

I enjoy writing music for both jazz and classical musicians, and many of my compositions over the last three years have showcased these musicians performing together.  When conductor Jared Chase approached me over the summer about writing a piece for both the Eastman Wind Orchestra and the Nazareth Wind Symphony to perform, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to write a piece for wind ensemble featuring the local jazz band, Bending and Breaking led by drummer Aaron Staebell. I envisioned writing a wind ensemble piece featuring Aaron's band ever since he premiered my composition Uprising (2012) with the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

I wrote Electric Vortex to showcase this collaboration. I was inspired by powerful images I found online of an electric vortex, and envisioned the improvisation group to be the 'eye' in this powerful whirlwind. 

Electric Vortex was written for a consortium of 10 ensembles.




Electric Vortex (2013) for Wind Ensemble and Jazz combo

Jennifer Bellor, composer
Light, Awaken
Lauren Zwonik, flute
Shawna Pennock, alto saxophone 
Wei-Wei Le, violin
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Gabriela Ordoñez-Villalobos, percussion 

Ron George, recording and mixing 
Gil Kaupp, mastering

Light, Awaken - flute, alto sax, violin, piano, percussion

Thrilled to share my new music video “A Grey Dream”  
Featuring:
John Irrera, violin
Joe Irrera, piano 

Music by Jennifer Bellor  

Ron George, Recording, mixing and mastering 

Recorded and filmed in Doc Rando Hall, UNLV 

“A Grey Dream” is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. https://open.spotify.com/album/0SAMA5OHBgyMR8pZYg53TF?si=trjNZGjSTFiB2unL5Ihg4Q

MUSIC VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/5-T2jkep4RM

A Grey Dream

A Grey Dream - violin and piano

Reviravoltas Sonoras (2022)
for violin, vibraphone and double bass 
Composed by Jennifer Bellor 
www.jenniferbellor.com 
Score and parts available for purchase at JW Pepper and Sheet Music Direct

Jennifer Bellor - Reviravoltas Sonoras - violin, vibraphone, bass

Ballad of a Wanderer for horn choir 
Written for the Eastman Horn Choir 
Composed by Jennifer Bellor 
Honorable Mention in 2022 International Horn Society Composition Contest 
www.jenniferbellor.com

Ballad of a Wanderer - horn choir

Jennifer Bellor, composer 
NOIR for tenor sax, electric guitar, and wind ensemble
Premiere  
Gustavus Wind Orchestra 
James Patrick Miller, conductor

NOIR for wind ensemble feat. tenor sax and electric guitar

Song cycle for bass and piano
CUATRO CANCIONES DE LAS ÚLTIMAS HORAS (Four Songs Of The Last Hours)
Jennifer Bellor, composer 
Featuring: 
Norman Espinoza (bass)
Jennifer Bellor (piano)

Mañana
Track 3, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Music by Jennifer Bellor
Norman Espinoza, bass
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar
Jennifer Bellor, piano 

MAÑANA
Text by Pablo Neruda (Soneto XXV)
from Cien Sonetos de Amor 
Under category “Noche” 
Translated by Stephen Tapscott 

Translation:
Before I loved you, Love, nothing was my own:
I wavered through the streets, among objects: 
nothing mattered or had a name:
the world was made of air, which waited.

I knew rooms full of ashes, 
tunnels where the moon lived, 
rough warehouses that growled Get lost, 
questions that insisted in the sand.

Everything was empty, dead, mute, 
fallen, abandoned, and decayed:
inconceivably alien, it all 

belonged to someone else—to no one:
till your beauty and your poverty 
filled the autumn plentiful with gifts.

Duration: 19'
Written for bass singer Norman Espinoza and recorded for Bellor's 2024 album, Long These Days. (The recordings on the album will also feature an electric guitar part.)

Mañana

Mañana - art song for bass, text by Pablo Neruda feat. Norman Espinoza with Bellor on piano

Bellor's composition "Noir" premiered by the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble won the 2nd Annual Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra composition contest, and was performed in Seattle November 2014, featuring Grace Kelly on alto saxophone. Judges considered her piece “really beautiful and haunting,” and “reminiscent of Ornette’s collaboration with Howard Shore for the film Naked Lunch.”

Noir (2014) - big band feat. soprano sax and alto sax

Skylark Lullaby was performed by the FSU SaxoChoir at the Florida State University Festival of New Music. This is a live recording. 

It was commissioned by the Eastman Saxophone Project for premiere 2014 at the NASA Conference.

Skylark Lullaby, Performance by FSU SaxoChoir January 30, 2015

Song of Flight 
Track 1, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Music by Jennifer Bellor
Text by Christina Rossetti 
Olivia Yokers, soprano
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar
Jennifer Bellor, piano

TEXT (by Christina Rossetti) 
I. Song of Flight
(poem title: “A Song of Flight”)

While we slumber and sleep,
The sun leaps up from the deep,--
Daylight born at the leap,--
Rapid, dominant, free,
Athirst to bathe in the uttermost sea.

While we linger at play--
If the year would stand at May!--
Winds are up and away,
Over land, over sea,
To their goal, wherever their goal may be.

It is time to arise,
To race for the promised prize;
The sun flies, the wind flies,
We are strong, we are free,
And home lies beyond the stars and the sea.

Released by Lexicon Classics

Song of Flight

Song Of Flight

Interlude: Dawn 
Track 2, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Piano with electric guitar improvisation 
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, improvised electric guitar 
Released by Lexicon Classics

Interlude: Dawn

Interlude: Midday Reverie 
Track 4, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Jennifer Bellor, composer/piano
Tasos Peltekis, improvised electric guitar 
Released by Lexicon Classics

Interlude: Midday Reverie

Mañana
Song from Jennifer Bellor's song cycle for bass, piano, and electric guitar (Cuatro Canciones de las Últimas Horas)
Track 3, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Music by Jennifer Bellor
Norman Espinoza, bass
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar
Jennifer Bellor, piano 

Text by Pablo Neruda (Soneto XXV)
from Cien Sonetos de Amor 
Under category “Noche” 
Translated by Stephen Tapscott 

Translation:
Before I loved you, Love, nothing was my own:
I wavered through the streets, among objects: 
nothing mattered or had a name:
the world was made of air, which waited.

I knew rooms full of ashes, 
tunnels where the moon lived, 
rough warehouses that growled Get lost, 
questions that insisted in the sand.

Everything was empty, dead, mute, 
fallen, abandoned, and decayed:
inconceivably alien, it all 

belonged to someone else—to no one:
till your beauty and your poverty 
filled the autumn plentiful with gifts.

Mañana

Mediodía 
Song from Jennifer Bellor's song cycle for bass, piano, and electric guitar (Cuatro Canciones de las Últimas Horas)
Track 5, album Long These Days 
Text by Pablo Neruda 
Norman Espinoza, bass
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar

Text by Pablo Neruda (Soneto XLV)
from Cien Sonetos de Amor 
Under category “Mediodía”
Translated by Stephen Tapscott

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because—
Because—I don't know how to say it: a day is long 
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station 
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because 
then the little drops of anguish will all run together, 
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift 
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach; 
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far 
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking, 
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

Mediodía

Mediodía

Tarde
Song from Jennifer Bellor's song cycle for bass, piano, and electric guitar (Cuatro Canciones de las Últimas Horas)
Track 9, album LONG THESE DAYS
Music by Jennifer Bellor
Text by Pablo Neruda 
Norman Espinoza, bass
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar

Text by Pablo Neruda (Soneto LXVI)
from Cien Sonetos de Amor 
Under category “Tarde”
Translated by Stephen Tapscott

I do not love you–except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you, 
from waiting to not waiting for you
my heart moves from the cold into the fire. 

I love you only because it's you I love;
I hate you no end, and hating you bend to you, 
and the measure of my changing love for you
is that I do not see you but love you blindly. 

Maybe the January light will consume 
my heart with its cruel ray, 
stealing my key to true calm. 

In this part of the story I am the one who dies, the only one, 
and I will die of love because I love you, 
because I love you, Love, in fire and in blood.

Tarde

Noche
Song from Jennifer Bellor's song cycle for bass, piano, and electric guitar (Cuatro Canciones de las Últimas Horas)
Track 11, album LONG THESE DAYS
Music by Jennifer Bellor
Text by Pablo Neruda 
Norman Espinoza, bass
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, electric guitar

Text by Pablo Neruda (Soneto LXXXIX)
from Cien Sonetos de Amor 
Under category “Noche”
Translated by Stephen Tapscott

When I die, I want your hands on my eyes:
I want the light and wheat of your beloved hands 
to pass their freshness over me once more:
I want to feel the softness that changed my destiny.

I want you to live while I wait for you, asleep.
I want your ears still to hear the wind, I want you 
to sniff the sea's aroma that we loved together, 
to continue to walk on the sand we walk on.

I want what I love to continue to live, 
and you whom I love and sang above everything else 
to continue to flourish, full-flowered:

so that you can reach everything my love directs you to, 
so that my shadow can travel along in your hair, 
so that everything can learn the reason for my song.

Noche

Interlude: Post Meridian Epiphany 
Track 6, album LONG THESE DAYS 
piano with electric guitar improvisation 

Jennifer Bellor, composer/piano
Tasos Peltekis, improvised electric guitar

Interlude: Post Meridian Epiphany

Interlude: Daydream Getaway 
Track 8, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Music by Jennifer Bellor
piano with electric guitar improvisation
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, improvised electric guitar

Interlude: Daydream Getaway

Interlude: Nightscape 
Track 10, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Music by Jennifer Bellor
piano with electric guitar improvisation
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, improvised electric guitar

Interlude: Nightscape

Postlude: Resurgence
Track 14, album LONG THESE DAYS 
Music by Jennifer Bellor
piano with electric guitar improvisation
Jennifer Bellor, piano
Tasos Peltekis, improvised electric guitar

Postlude: Resurgence

Postlude:  Resurgence

This is a live recording of the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dave Rivello premiering the newly revised version of my composition "Overdrive" that features electric guitar and soprano saxophone. Colin Gordon was featured on soprano sax, and Billy Petito was featured on electric guitar.

Overdrive (2015) - big band feat. electric guitar and soprano sax

Indigo Nocturne - for alto sax and piano 
Music by Jennifer Bellor 
Featuring Shawna Pennock (alto sax) and Jennifer Bellor (piano) 
Recorded in 2024 


Indigo Nocturne

All Rivers at Once 
Jennifer Bellor, composer 
Bryan Conger, clarinet 
Shawna Pennock, tenor saxophone 

Music video shot and edited by Shahab Zargari 
Clark County Wetlands Park 

Recording and mixing by Chuck Foley
UNLV Recording Studio  
Mastering by Gil Kaupp 

This is the clarinet and tenor sax version of my piece originally composed for two clarinets. 

“All Rivers at Once” is the title of a poem by the 13th century poet, Rumi. The following excerpt from the poem inspired the creation of this piece:

What is the body? 
Endurance. 
What is love? 
Gratitude.
What is hidden in our chests? 
Laughter.
What else? 
Compassion. 

– Rumi


All Rivers at Once by Jennifer Bellor for clarinet and tenor sax

This is the live performance - premiere of my new big band composition "Chase the Stars" featuring Jorge Machain on trumpet with the UNLV Jazz Ensemble 1, October 13, 2015 at Ham Hall, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  I am conducting the premiere.

The original version of this piece is for soprano, MC, flute, clarinet, string quartet, vibraphone/glockenspiel, piano, electric guitar, bass, and drums and was written for the NYC ensemble ShoutHouse for official premiere December 10, 2015.

Chase The Stars (2015) - big band featuring trumpet

Mike Kaupa, trumpet
Wendy Eisenberg, electric guitar
Andrew Links, piano
Tyrone Allen, electric bass
Aaron Staebell, drums

Stay

Chase the Stars remix

Chase The Stars remix (2015)

Recording by the UNLV Wind Orchestra featuring Eric Marienthal (alto sax), Colin Gordon (soprano sax), Mitch Forman (piano), Kevin Axt (electric bass), and Bernie Dresel (drums).

In "Bordello Nights,"  the tango-like rhythms throughout juxtaposed with the ensemble of jazz improvisers intertwined with a dark, film noir-like fabric paints a historical picture of the types of music that were often performed in bordellos in the early twentieth century. 

According to The History Of Jazz by Ted Gioia, New Orleans jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton (1840-1941) was hired to perform in these venues, which held a substantial place in the music business in the early 20th century: “More than any other major New Orleans jazz artist, Morton’s apprenticeship in the music business took place largely in the bordellos of Storyville (although Morton worked mainly in the white bordellos where few other jazz players could follow)…His great-grandmother expelled him from home when she learned of his activities in the District, and before long Morton started on the peripatetic freelancing that would occupy most of his life.” – Gioia, The History of Jazz

The composer Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) composed tango music for the concert hall with the mission to bring tango from bordellos to other venues. For example, his composition Histoire du Tango,  specifically his first movement titled “Bordello, 1900,” brings to the concert hall music that was associated with bordellos in Buenos Aires.

"Bordello Nights" was written for the UNLV Wind Orchestra featuring a jazz band comprising soprano sax, alto sax, piano, bass and drums. 



The Return

Bordello Nights

Buy Album

Bordello Nights (2016) - Concerto for Jazz Band and Wind Orchestra

Music by Jennifer Bellor 
Featured on album "Stay"

Colin Gordon, soprano saxophone
Andrew Links, piano
Tyrone Allen, electric bass
Aaron Staebell, drums

Familiar Stranger remix

Jennifer Bellor, composer 
Cory Tiffin (clarinet), Luigi Ng (vibraphone), and Jae Ahn-Benton (piano)

This is the live recording from the premiere of selections from "Songs in the Dark" composed by Jennifer Bellor. For more information, please visit www.jenniferbellor.com.

Songs In The Dark (2016) selections for voice, string quartet, vibes, bass

After Hours

After Hours (2014)  for solo drum set feat. Aaron Staebell

Colin Gordon, soprano sax
Wendy Eisenberg, electric guitar
Tyrone Allen, electric bass
Aaron Staebell, drums

Noir

Noir (2013) jazz soprano sax, electric guitar, electric bass, drums

Crystalline (2017) for two pianos and percussion was premiered Sunday, July 2nd in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music on the program “Sonic Clusters II” produced by pianists Olga Shupyatskaya and Futaba Niekawa:

Olga Shupyatskaya and Futaba Niekawa, pianos
Matt Witten and Chris Jones, percussion

The composition is inspired by the fusion of natural elements resulting in the creation of these beautiful crystal-like patterns/structures found in nature. In Crystalline, the pattern is a melody line that is first heard in its entirety by the vibraphone. Throughout the piece, the interplay among the instruments evokes images of these elements coming together and breaking a part as the structure is formed, creating a sparkly, crystal-like atmosphere.

Crystalline

Crystalline (2017)- two pianos and percussion - premiere

Querencia (2016) was composed by Jennifer Bellor and premiered by the Adams State University Wind Ensemble feat. James Doyle, vibraphone. This is a live recording.

For more information on purchasing score and parts, please visit www.jenniferbellor.com.

Querencia (2016) for wind ensemble feat. vibraphone

This is a demo recording of "Echo's Lament" (2009, rev. 2018) for string orchestra composed by Jennifer Bellor. Echo's Lament was inspired by the mythological story of Echo and also a painting by my late friend Jennifer Mathiason (1983-2009). The painting is the image above.

The piece was originally commissioned and performed in 2009 by Millersville University Orchestra under the direction of Reuben Blundell. I revised it for its premiere by the Nevada School of the Arts orchestra in Las Vegas May 2018.

For more information, please visit www.jenniferbellor.com

Echo's Lament

Echo's Lament (2009, rev. 2018) for string orchestra

Turn the Key
Music and lyrics by Jennifer Bellor 

Jennifer Bellor, voice and pipe organ
Julian Tanaka, clarinet with improvisation
Adam Schroeder, bass clarinet 
Gabby Ordonez Villalobos, congas and bass drum 
Mixing/Recording by Ron George at UNLV
Producer (vocals) by Phil Joy

Turn The Key (2018) - vocals, pipe organ, jazz clarinet, bass clarinet, congas, bass drum)

Composed by Jennifer Bellor
Cerulean Twilight (2018)
Released on second album "Reflections at Dusk" by Innova Recordings 
Featuring:
Ying Zhang, violin
Andy Smith, cello
Emily Montoya Barnes, harp
Tim Jones, Luc Brust and Gabriela Ordoñez Villalobos, percussion
Geoff Neuman, double bass

Recording and mixing by Ron George, UNLV Recording Studio
Mastering by Gil Kaupp
Recording made possible by a Nevada Arts Council Jackpot Grant 
Originally titled "Cerulealina"

Cerulean Twilight

Jennifer Bellor, composer
World premiere of "High Resolution"
Eastman New Jazz Ensemble
Dave Rivello, director
live recording
April 5, 2019
Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music 
www.jenniferbellor.com

High Resolution

High Resolution (2019)  - Eastman New Jazz Ensemble

Uprising (2010, rev. 2012) for wind ensemble was premiered by the Eastman Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mark Scatterday, featuring Aaron Staebell on drum set. Uprising is the wind ensemble version of my piece Overdrive (2010) for Big band. 



Uprising (2012) for wind ensemble feat.  solo jazz drum set

"Celestial Surroundings" was premiered by organist Nicole Marane and brass players from the Atlanta Symphony at Peachtree United Methodist church in Atlanta, GA.
The piece is written for brass sextet, organ, and glockenspiel.

Celestial Surroundings (2009)- brass, organ and glockenspiel

Jennifer Bellor is hailed by Textura as a “that rare composer whose music manages to be instantly listenable and emotionally resonant without any compromise to its sophistication.”  Her compositional style, marked by a fusion of influences drawn from imagery, literature, and personal experiences, showcases a melodic richness underscored by jazz and pop-infused harmonies. Her music has been presented widely throughout the U.S. and abroad and has three acclaimed albums to her name. Her debut album Stay (2016), a melting pot of different music styles largely based on poetry, features instrumental and vocal chamber music with jazz and classical musicians. Reflections at Dusk (Innova Recordings, 2019), showcases instrumental music inspired by the Nevada sunsets and her third album, Oneira, features the percussion quartet, Clocks in Motion (Aerocade Music, 2022).

In anticipation of her forthcoming album, Long These Days, slated for release on August 16, 2024, through EMITHA’s prestigious label, Lexicon Classics, Bellor continues to push artistic boundaries. Collaborating with soprano Olivia Yokers, bass singer Norman Espinoza, and electric guitarist Tasos Peltekis, the album promises a captivating journey from dawn to night. Inspired by the timeless poetry of Christina Rossetti and Pablo Neruda, the album’s thematic depth is enriched by instrumental interludes crafted by Bellor on piano and Peltekis’ improvisations on electric guitar.

Bellor holds degrees from Eastman School of Music (PhD), Syracuse University (MM), and Cornell University (BA) and serves as Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

JenniferBellor

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