The Ridgewood Concert Band — only the second group to perform my Soprano Sax concerto — has posted their recording of their premiere. Christian Wilhjelm conducted, and man alive, he did a great job keeping all of the tempos up and holding the monster together. Lois Hicks-Wozniak, the soloist for the performance, sounds just beautiful throughout; Lois played the hell out of the piece. Newman was there and raved to me about her and about the band, and he was right. The energy of the “Prelude” is great; you can hear every tricky alternate fingering in “Felt”; “Metal” is just beautiful, and really sings; “Wood” is hot ‘n’ sultry; and the “Finale” is a fast and exciting, and Lois nailed the cadenza. The band — keep in mind, this is a community band that rehearses once a week, not a college group! — worked like crazy and it really showed. They played like they really loved supporting Lois for those 25 minutes. I really wish I could have been there to hear it live. I’m really happy that at least there’s this recording.

I’m heading to Chicago on Tuesday for the annual Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. I have two performances there this year:
Wednesday, 9pm: US Navy Band with Timothy Roberts, soprano sax, will perform the final two movements of my Concerto for Soprano Sax and Wind Ensemble
Friday, 8:45pm: Harrison High School Wind Ensemble, conducted by David Vandewalker, will perform the second movement of “Kingfishers Catch Fire”

See you there!

Oh, and here’s my favorite new band: Uptown Bill & the Elmos