Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty

for alto saxophone and jazz orchestra (5 sxs, 4tpts, 4tbns, 2 vlns, vla, vc, pno, bass and drum set)

Duration - approximately 22 minutes

Program Notes:

Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty is a concerto for alto saxophone and jazz orchestra that draws inspiration from the character of the same name in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road.  The title is both a tribute to Kerouac’s distinctive “bebop” writing style, as well as the piece that “made a lady out of jazz”, Gershwin’s concert masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue.

Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty is infused with Dean’s manic intensity and affection for long-blowing bebop solos.  With extended solis and a lot of improvisation Rhapsody creates its own frenetic pace, spinning in circles rubbing its belly like a beatnik in a jazz club.  For this the alto sax part is key, as the soloist is entrusted to take the motives and riffs from the written parts and develop them through improvisation into something new and fresh.  Often, the improvisation is added in addition to written material, inviting the soloist to “comment” or respond to what the other instruments are playing.  The melodic material presented throughout the piece can also be thought of in terms of improvisation, since many of the phrases are reused throughout in different ways, in addition to the tendency of introducing new melodies over previously used chord progressions.  Rhapsody is always moving and changing, and the listener should find it both invigorating and taxing to keep up.

Although performed without pause, the piece is nonetheless divided into three formal movements, with a quote from On The Road beginning each.

 I.
…raised his horn and blew into it quietly and thoughtfully and elicited birdlike phrases and architectural Miles Davis logics.  These were the children of the great bop innovators...

II.
...always wanted to reach, which was the complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm, and the sensation...

III.
...that gloomy, saintly goof in whom the history of jazz was wrapped; for when he held his horn high and horizontal from his mouth he blew the greatest...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SCORE FOR RHAPSODY FOR DEAN MORIARTY.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM NOTES FOR RHAPSODY FOR DEAN MORIARTY.

Portions of this piece were read by the Hartt Big Band in Dec. 2006, with Jeff Welsh playing the alto sax solo.