BA(da)SS

for solo bass

Duration - approx. 4 minutes

Program Notes:

The idea for BA(da)SS came to me during a recent concert after seeing the bassist Ryan Ford perform Peter Askim’s Edge. The piece was incredible and the first thing I wanted to say to Ryan after his performance was that it was “badass”. It was then that I realized that the word incorporated another word, “bass”. Always one to give my works ironic, catchy, or tongue-in-cheek titles, I wrote it down and took it home. I told Ryan about it a few days later and we decided that I would write him this piece.
Two other aspects of Askim’s piece stuck with me: his use of repeated notes and double natural harmonics. I wanted to explore both of these techniques in the piece. The title also brought with it many connotations, most notably a mental association with heavy metal or aggressive playing. So sufficiently inspired, I took all my new techniques and concepts and started writing. It’s a short and fast piece, with a lot of aggression and some improvisation. I hope you find the title fitting. Enjoy.

-Ryan Jesperson
12/4/2010

To be premiered by Ryan Ford in the spring of 2012.

Spring, 2013: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain.

Fall, 2012: Joseph Abad will perform Icarus in Hartford, CT.

Fall, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories with the HICO Orchestra in CT.

fall, 2012: Bobby Watson and the UMKC Big Band will premiere Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty in Kansas City, MO.

fall, 2012: Ashly Evans will premiere Birdsongs in Houston, TX.

Spring-Summer, 2012: Jeux pour Jumeaux will be performed in San Francisco, CA.

June 7th, 2012: BA(da)SS will be performed by Ryan Ford in West Hartford, CT.

June 7th, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

June 7th, 2012: Chris Belluscio will perform Boombox Serenade in West Hartford, CT.

June 7th, 2012: Not Death, but Love will be premiered by Ineo Saxophone Quartet.

June, 2012: The Invisible, Magic, Soccer Phone will be premiered in Middlefield, CT.

June 7th, 2012: Joseph Abad will premiere Icarus in Hartford, CT.

May 27th, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

May 6th, 2012: "Indeed this very Love" from Sonnets from the Portuguese will be broadcast on kineticsradio.com.

Dec. 3rd, 2011: Ryan defends his dessertation, Songs from Behind the Curtain at UMKC.

July 17th, 21st, 24th, 2011: Music Faculty from the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival will perform ...and those seven dwarfs in a series of concerts in Western Maine.

June 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 2011:Orphée Redux will be performed by Rhymes With Opera on their East Coast Tour (NYC, Baltimore, Hartford, Boston).

June 12th, 2011:Selection from Songs from Behind the Curtain will be performed at the John Duffy Composers Institute in Norfolk, VA.

May 13th, 2011: The Ineo Quartet will perform the 1st movement of Not Death, but Love on their Fischoff Competition program in South Bend, Indiana.

March 19th, 2011: The Ineo Saxophone Quartet will perform ...and love is fire... from Not Death, but Love at the NASA conference in West Point, NY.

Feb. 25th, 2011: I. Jest will be premiered by Robert Olson and the UMKC Orchestra in Kansas City, MO.

Feb. 14th, 2011: Hebdomas Squatinae will be performed at the Nebraska at Kearney New Music Festival.

EVENT HISTORY