New Music in 24 hours

The 24/24 concert has been a great back-to-school tradition at the University of Iowa. Composers and performers are paired on Friday at 5 p.m. The composers have 24 hours to compose a piece, then the performers have 24 hours to practice. The concert takes place on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

We are thrilled that we can have this Center for New Music 24/24 2021 Concert in person tomorrow! I'm especially excited since I wrote a new piece for the event: the organizers paired me with Mark Rheaume, who is both a composer and a trombone player.

I wrote an homage to Juan Tizol, Duke Ellington's famous valve trombone player, who was a composer as well. The title of the piece is Legit.

Legit Trombone Live Electronics

Juan Tizol thought of his tone as "legit", compared to more original tone qualities characteristic of other jazz players. Duke Ellington was certainly very glad to have Juan Tizol and his unique tone contribute to the orchestra's sound. But Tizol wasn't always convinced of the value of his own contributions. Here is what he told Ellington once:

I like legit because I could feature myself better in legit than in a jazz band. I don't feel the pop tunes, but I feel La Gioconda and La Boheme. I like pure romantic flavor. I can feel that better.

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