Pieces

Electric guitar, amplified strings, and percussion

Flesh Of My Flesh

Soundtrack of an Open Road describes the pursuit for sanctuary, in the form of a calm and open road. From 2011-2013 I found myself driving more and more, and it was during these drives, especially those going cross-country, I was able to find a kind of mental clarity. Since then the sounds of a car and the road have been ingrained in me. 

The piece starts aggressively, depicting elements of road rage and anxiety. Gradually the journey becomes calmer, and the sounds of cars eventually fade away, leaving the cellist in a moment of solitude and sanctuary in the form of a cadenza. This moment or clarity is brief as the drive turns around to return home, bringing back the chaos of earlier. The fixed media is comprised of recorded sounds from cars, inside and out, as well as the materials they are built from (i.e. glass, metal). Soundtrack of an Open Road was written in 2014 and early 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri for Tiffany Bell, and premiered and recorded in March 2015.

Soundtrack of an Open Road

Piano concerto commissioned by Keith Kirchoff. 
Open rehearsal recording of Midwest Chamber Ensemble and Keith Kirchoff, piano. 

Nicodemus: The Beds are Burning Again

ALBUM OUT FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Performed by the NYU Percussion Ensemble under the direction of Jonathan Haas with guest appearances by So Percussion, Bobby Previte’s new work Terminals Quartets celebrates the subtle, the powerful and the serene in modern percussion-based music. 

The piece is both a back story and a natural progression for Previte’s 2014 Cantaloupe release TERMINALS (Five Concertos for Percussion and Soloist). In that work, So Percussion played the role of a concerto orchestra behind soloists on harp, guitar, piano and saxophone; Terminals Quartets re-calibrates exclusively for percussion, and adds new music to create a work of vast space and melodic abstraction—an entirely new entity of percussive sound, with an eerie echo of its original source. 

As such, Terminals Quartets is also testament to the teaching power of music, with the recording having been beautifully captured by Paul Geluso in New York University’s James Dolan Studio, and featuring top percussion students from NYU’s premiere Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Program.

Terminals Quartets

Bobby Previte – Terminal D [excerpt]

This piece has three primary motives which are in different meters. The motives are introduced one at a time at the outset of the piece before being juxtaposed (heard together). At various times you will hear 2 or 3 motives simultaneously; the sections in which this occurs conclude when the various "downbeats" of each motive finally occur in unison. I call this "metric phasing." At times this phasing technique is all there is to hear. One can follow a motive and all of its interactions with the other motives which create composite melodies and rhythms. At other times, the metric phasing serves as accompaniment to new melodic gestures. 

The middle section is improvisatory and the finale of the piece develops motives in a more traditional manner. Enjoy!

Performed by Nebular Blue

Nathan Brown, trombone
Rachael Rule, piano
Frank Nawrot, guitar

United Front, no. 2

For many years the incredible colors and shapes that the sky and clouds can create have fascinated me. Between Glimpses of Blue is a collage of memories and impressions of the different types of clouds while in the air and from the ground. Written for Wind Ensemble and Fixed Media; frequency/pitch, orchestration, and field recordings from planes, rain, and storms emulate characteristics of Cirrus, Cumulus, and Nimbocumulus clouds while also blending electronic and acoustic forces. 

Between Glimpses of Blue was commissioned in 2016 by a consortium of 15 university and high school wind ensembles headed by Danh Pham and the Washington State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble. It was premiered by Joe Parisi and the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory Wind Ensemble in April 2017, and are featured in this recording as well.


Photo: Somewhere above Japan/South Korea, July 2016

Between Glimpses of Blue

A record player is called to life to tell its story of a computer’s rebellion against its creator, and how it destroys the world. 

Life and Death on a Spinning Disk was written for Matthew Russo in 2016. Recorded and work-shopped by Gavin Carney on Trombone, and recorded by Christina Butera.

Life And Death On A Spinning Disk

BL@KLI$T's latest track from our upcoming album, BL@KWAVE.

Seth Davis and Jacob Frisbie (AKA Mr. Sandman and DI$CGOLF)

The Moment Youve Been Waiting For

Please contact me with score inquiries at slandismusic@gmail.com

Personnel

Zach Shemon, alto/tenor saxophone soloist
UMKC Musica Nova, Boris Vayner, Conductor

Virginia Backman, flute
Erik Hose, bass clarinet
Ashtin Johnson, violin
Aubrie Powell, double bass
Matt Anderson, percussion
Hao Yin, piano


Recorded and Produced by Jason Schueffler
Recorded May 4, 2017 UMKC White Hall


Program Notes

The graffiti tags and paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) inspire Cadenza II: Litanies of Samo and the final movement, BOOM!!! ...for Real! and feature the tenor saxophone. Spoken text, noise, rhythmic momentum, and improvisation evoke the frenetic nature of Basquiat's work. The final movement develops the energy of the cadenza, by adding a constant juxtaposition and layering of fragmented and disparate musical material, comprised of noise, improvisation, text, and hints of vernacular music genres. Rapid changes of texture, orchestration, volume, and temporality shape the dramatic arc.

Cadenza II. Litanies of Samo [attacca] III. BOOM!!! ...for Real!

Episode 62 of ADJ•ective New Music's podcast, Lexical Tones. Robert McClure interviews composer and performer Scott Blasco. https://scottblasco.com/

Visit www.adjectivenewmusic.com for more information about ADJ•ective New Music, the ADJ•ective Composers' Collective, and Lexical Tones.

62 - Scott Blasco

Lament for alto sax and fixed media

Nicolas Lira, alto sax
Commissioned by A.J. Pratt

Lament (Nicolas Lira, Alto Sax)

Reflections Through Green and Gold is inspired by my fiancé Brittany's eyes. Green and hazel, these colors swirl around her iris, mixing with the reflections of the world she sees. This work is a short tone poem that weaves melodic ideas with lush harmonies across the wind ensemble to emulate this effect. “Green” sections will have darker or murkier qualities, and will be contrasted by the brighter Gold sections. Reflections Through Green and Gold was commissioned in 2017 by Dr. Adam Fontana and the Bethel College Wind Ensemble, and I am forever grateful for them for this opportunity.

Live performance at the 2018 Kansas Music Educators Association conference on February 22nd by the Bethel Wind Ensemble and Adam Fontana.

KMEA 2018 Bethel College Wind Ensemble

Reflections through Green and Gold

Blue River Breakdown is a fanfare for band that blends two motivic gestures: a typical brass fanfare and a high-energy big band shout chorus. It was written for and is dedicated to the directors of the UMKC Bands Steven Davis and Joseph Parisi for their continuous support of new music by UMKC’s student composers.

Premiered by the UMKC Wind Ensemble and Eric Scott, Conductor, April 25, 2018 at the Folly Theater in downtown Kansas City.

Blue River Breakdown

Written for the Mnemosyne Quartet, this piece utilizes four found objects from a thrift store. These objects - which include a toy phone, a plastic cup, a metal bowl, and a toy elephant - are used as tools in the quartet's improvisation. Live electronics create new possibilities with each object, eventually morphing into a fixed track over which the quartet improvises with. This recording is from Mnemosyne's live performance on KKFI on May 1st, 2019.

Suite for Four Items From a Thrift Shop (KKFI 5-1-19)

Performed by newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Concert I: Immaterial and Intangible (October 12, 2019). Kansas City, Missouri.

https://newear.org/

FAT SUNSET 2018

Ted King-Smith (b.1988) is a composer, educator, and saxophonist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a composer he is interested in the combination of acoustic and electronic forces in music, and emphasizes virtuosity and improvisation in his works. Recent recognition for his music has come from The National Band Association, I Care if You Listen, the American Prize, and BMI. Ted’s music has been featured at numerous conferences and festivals as well as Late Night at National Sawdust, and WFMT and WKCR radio stations. He holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music, Washington State University, and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Ted is a full-time instructor in Audio Engineering at the Milwaukee Area Technical College where he teaches courses in music technology and recording. He is also an active performer with the Mnemosyne Quartet, and founded the Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival in 2017 with the newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.

Blue River Breakdown

Ted King-Smith

Related tracks