Come join us on 27 June. Tickets are still available. Please support this event, and partial proceeds goes to Charity. Repertiore as follows:
Sax in The City
Singapore Conference Hall
Date: 27th June’09 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30pm – 8:00pm
‘city swing’ (sws big band)
REPERTOIRE:
- 1. Birdland
Composer: Josef Erich Zawinul
Arranger: Michael Sweeney
Mr Josef Erich Zawinul started his musical journey as an Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer. Though classically trained, he soon discovered his passion for jazz and together with Miles Davis, created the sound which we all know today as jazz fusion. “Birdland”, one of the most distinctive jazz pieces of the 1970s, was written by Mr Zawinul as a tribute to jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker and New York jazz club – Birdland on 52nd Street which Mr Zawinul frequented as a young musician. It has since become a jazz standard and has been performed countless times over by a whole spectrum of artists including vocal renditions by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and The Manhattan Transfer.
- 2. It Had To Be You
Composer: Isham Jones
Arranger: Frank Mantooth
This song was first performed by Priscilla Lane in the 1939 film – The Roaring Twenties. It was composed by Isham Jones with Gus Kahn providing lyrics. From Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles, Ella to Billie Holiday, numerous jazz legends over the ages have all done a take of this wonderful timeless song. It was featured on the soundtrack of the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, and snared Harry Connick Junior his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.
- 3. The Chicken
Composer: Alfred James Ellis
Arranger: Kris Berg
The composer of this piece, Alfred James Ellis, is better known in jazz circles as Pee Wee Ellis. He is a versatile composer, arranger, saxophonist and keyboard player whose wide-ranging repertoire includes jazz, soul, funk, stadium rock and even world music. The Chicken is all energy and excitement wrapped up in a funky groove. Don’t be surprised if you can’t stop your feet from tapping.
- 4. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Composer: Cole Porter
Arranger: Mark Taylor
Cole Porter was one of the few Tin Pan Alley composers who wrote both music and lyrics for his songs. He was noted for his sophisticated bawdy lyrics, clever rhymes and complex forms. Unlike his contemporaries like George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, he found Broadway success only in the middle part of his career.
The song, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, was first performed by Virginia Bruce in the MGM musical, Born To Dance. Ten years later, it was transformed by Frank Sinatra’s swinging big band rendition and became one of his signature tunes.
- 5. On Broadway
Composer: Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Mike Stoller & Jerry Leiber
Arranger: George Stone
But for the creative collaboration between the original composers of this tune – Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil – and influential songwriters and producers – Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber – this hit may have never been born. The original story of a girl on her way to Broadway with a tune that did not pop was deemed unsatisfactory by Stoller and Leiber. It prompted an overnight brainstorming session by the foursome. The result – the story was to be about singer having a hard time in Broadway and this was complemented by a bluesy treatment given to the remake.
- 6. New York State Of Mind
Composer: Billy Joel
Arranger: Sammy Nestico
Multiple Grammy award-winning musician and singer-songwriter, Billy Joel, was teased by the neighbour kids for his love of music in his early days. His tune, New York State of Mind, first appeared on his album Turnstiles in 1976. It was recorded by Joel upon his return to New York after his disenchantment with the Los Angeles music scene. The lyrics read like an ode to a lost love – Joel’s New York.
tübinger- saxophon ensemble
- 7. The Italian Girl in Algiers
Gioacchino Rossini
Arranger: Tübinger-Saxophon Ensemble
From the composer of Barber of Seville comes what some commentators have described as “a comic stumble of a shipwreck, missing lovers, jealous wives, and meddling servants”. It tells the story of the Turkish Bey of Algiers, who, bored with his harem, sends the captain of his guard to find a new bride. He seizes upon the lovely victim of a shipwreck, an “Italian girl” searching for her lost lover. But don’t think she’ll go quietly.
An operatic drama giocoso in two acts, L’italiana in Algeri, was composed by Rossini at the age of 21 and is arguably one of the greatest comedies in opera, sparkling with Rossini’s effervescent music and a keen understanding of just how far we will go to get the man or woman of our dreams.
- 8. Serenade
Edward Elgar
- Allegro piacevole
- Larghetto
- Allegretto
Arranger: John C. Worley
Originally composed for string orchestra in three short movements, Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E Minor was written in 1892 and received its premiere in Antwerp, Belgium in 1896. It is said to have remained one of Elgar’s favorites among his own works throughout his life.
Elgar’s serenade seems modest in scale when compared to the more lavish and extended serenades of Dvorak and Tchaikovsky. It is nonetheless very beautiful. The slow middle movement, Larghetto, is almost as long as the two outer movements put together and possesses the sort of wistful bittersweet melancholy which would become a hallmark of Elgar’s works.
- 9. Eden (“die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies”)
Thomas Krause
Eden, subtitled “the expulsion from paradise” was composed in 2008 and premiered by the Tübinger-Saxophon Ensemble. According to a tale, the Garden of Eden lies in the southwest of Turkey on the mountain “Nemrut”, and it is here where Adam and Eve lived “in paradise” and from where they were eventually expelled.
The quiet of the mountains bears the calls of the mosque criers from their minarets down in the valley. It is an atmosphere of dream time; a garden lush with fruits and vegetables; a sanctuary where Adam and Eve lived and danced without a care in the world.
One thing in the garden remained forbidden to Adam and Eve – to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge. But eat the fruit they did, after succumbing to the temptation of the cunning serpent, causing God to fly into a terrible rage and expel them from the Garden of Eden. Forever. As the calls of the mosque criers bring the listener back to the present time.
- 10. Air and Dances
John Dowland
- John Smith his Almain
- Fortune
- 2 Dames and a Squire - The Shoemaker’s Wife; Mrs Vaux’s Jig; Tarleton’s Riserrectione
- My Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe
Arranger: Tübinger-Saxophon Ensemble
John Dowland is perhaps best known for his 84 songs and 70 pieces for lute. A prolific and highly inventive composer, and internationally renown virtuoso lutanist, he travelled widely in Europe as a court performer, most notably at the Danish court, before eventually attaining the high rank of lutanist at the English court in 1612.
This selection contrasts a song transcription, “Fortune” with some livelier instrumental dance music. For the most part the instrumental dances are simple 16-bar pieces extended by extemporised ornamentation rather like a set of variations.
“John Smith his Almain” is a stately march-like movement. “Fortune” a melancholy air with variations. “2 Dames and a Squire” is a group of 3 dances; the first, “The Shoemakers Wife” is scored for the soprano and alto saxophones; this is followed by “Mrs Vaux’s Jig” led by the tenor saxophones; thirdly, “Tarleton’s Riserrectione’ is for full Ensemble.
The set finishes with the sprightly “My Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe”. This consists of 2 verses. The second of which allows all players in turn to indulge in a bit of competitive virtuosity.
singapore wind symphony
- 11. Die Druiden (”eine mythische Errinerung“)
Rolf Rudin
The notion of druids brings to mind images of old white-bearded men, huddled around a log fire, cutting mistletoe and brewing potions. In medieval Europe, the druids were magicians, philosophers, singers, and poets. They stood as mediators between the world ruled by the gods of old and the world of human beings. A position of immense power and prestige.
It is this world which Rolf Rudin’s music evokes. A world unknown and mysterious, and always shrouded in mist. The subtitle suggests that the music’s philosophy has mythical roots and seeks to recollect the image of a meeting of legendary figures or watershed events in history.
Nemeton, the holy clearing, place of the cultic rituals of the druids comes into view through the use of large phrases, sustained tones and a rich layering of sounds and tones, with the thoughtful use of dissonance. A beseeching melody, framed by naturalistic sounds of birds and played in unison by nearly the entire orchestra, breaks through an almost static beginning. The hymn-like ending being a fitting symbol of the power and glory of the druids.
- 12. Concerto Grosso For Saxophone Quartet & Wind Band
Masamicz Amano
The composer, Masamicz Amano (天野正道 [Masamichi Amano] in Japanese), is from the island of Honshu, Japan. He completed his studies at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and is now based in Europe. His work involves conducting various ensembles, such as the Filharmonia Narodowa, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra (since 1992) and Orchestre Chambre de Versailles), producing recordings of his own works and composing commissioned works for the Warsaw Brass, Classic Torio, and Paderewski Festival.
Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet & Wind Band is a modern spin on the classical form of the concerto grosso (meaning “big concerto” in Italian). It is packed with energy and groove but retaining the classical feature of the passing melodic line between a small group of soloists and the wind orchestra.
- 13. September
Maurice White, Al McKay and Allee Willis
“September” is a song that needs no introduction. It was made a hit by the group Earth, Wind & Fire. First recorded and released as a smash single in 1978, reaching #1 on the US R&B charts and #8 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Sit back and enjoy this wind band arrangement featuring solos by our very own City Swing members.
