Four Sleazy Dudes

for alto saxophone, bass trombone, viola and violoncello

Duration - approximately 4 minutes

Program Notes:

Four Sleazy Dudes… was written for the Miklos Quartet, an unusual collection of instruments and instrumentalists who enjoy performing new music.

The title is intended to poke fun at the four members of the group. As the piece was being written, the title helped create a sort of comedy involving all four members of the group. The story eventually worked itself out into something like this:

All four members of the group are out on the town after a long night of practicing. They are at a local trendy bar, but, being musicians, they appear awkward and out of touch. Each of the four attempt to use a smooth pick-up line to entice a woman to dance, but none succeed. Each rejection is either followed by a silence. The low “blat” of the bass trombone is used to represent the ridiculousness of their attempts. Eventually, one of the four lures a woman onto the dance floor. They dance a weird sort of tango, she rather well, him less than satisfactory. The dancing woman quickly loses interest and leaves. The lone dancer returns to his quartet and continues to lament their lack of success. As the night draws to a close, each attempt a last ditch effort at a dance, but each time, they’re shot down. They leave the club insulted and alone. And their night ends with a final rejection, as the taxi they hail pulls up and immediately drives away…

After everything is said and done, Four Sleazy Dudes… is nothing more than a sardonic joke at the expense of the musicians who commissioned it I just hope they don’t get mad and play the wrong notes…

-Ryan Jesperson
Sept. 19th, 2006

The Miklos Quartet

Fall, 2012: Joseph Abad will premiere a new Saxophone Sonata.

Fall, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

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

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

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

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

Spring, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

Spring, 2012: Not Death, but Love will be premiered by Ineo Saxophone Quartet.

Spring, 2012: David Tayloe will perform A Page Out of Zen in CT.

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

April, 2012: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain.

April, 2012: David Tayloe will premiere A Page Out of Zen in NY.

Feb. 17th, 2012: The 016 Ensemble will be perform Romanza for Alto Saxophone and Violin in Manchester, CT.

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