SOUNDS FROM JAZZ ALLEY
for Woodwind Quintet

by W. Brent Sawyer
completed 2/6/2022
approx. length: 7:00 minutes

This piece is a panoramic view of many styles. 

When I started this piece I wanted to try to write in that 60s cool mod jazz feel. After I finished the first 8 bars I keep thinking "this is too familiar, what is it??" Then I realized it was a rip-off of the great Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn Theme - but of course, not nearly as good.  So, after much contemplation and some encouragement of others, instead of erasing everything I had done, I decided to keep it and make a "patchwork quilt", if you will, of other Jazz Styles that I find attractive.

This piece pays homage to many great composers that influenced me and whom I greatly admire.

When I wrote it I imagined myself walking down a street (a back Alley, actually) of different jazz clubs and briefly entering each club to see what was being played there. Each club having it's own distinctive sound. 

Welcome to my Jazz Alley.

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