JAMES M. DAVID, composer
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Five American Dances

Five American Dances
for two tenor trombones


Medium Advanced - ca. 12 minutes - $35
Purchase at Murphy Music Press

Program Notes

Five American Dances is a set of short pieces designed as a pedagogical tool for trombonists that demonstrates various musical styles and trombone techniques. Each is based on a specific form of rhythmically compelling music from South and North America. “Mathcore” is based on the famously intense and driving form of heavy metal which owes much to the works of Bartók and Stravinsky. “Foxtrot” emulates the piano works of Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, and other early jazz pioneers. “Tango Solemnis” combines a Baroque sarabande progression (already a European/American hybrid form) with the tango which has roots in both Uruguay and Argentina. “Steve and Terry” combines minimalist techniques from Reich and Riley whose works heavily influenced electronic dance music. Finally, “Whole Tone Mambo” utilizes the intertwining Afro-Caribbean rhythms that inspired the works of Dizzy Gillespie and Leonard Bernstein. This work was commissioned by Dr. Drew Leslie, professor of trombone, Colorado State University and was premiered at the 2021 International Trombone Festival.
  • Home
  • about
  • wind ensemble
    • Message from Arecibo
    • Flying Jewels
    • Urban Light
    • Troublesome Fire
    • Symphony no. 1
    • Ghosts of the Old Year
    • Call to Commitment
    • With Soul Serene
    • March Tumbao
    • Lookfar
    • Menlo Park, 1879
    • Zephyrus
    • Flexible Instrumentation
    • Heartland Verses
    • Swing Landscape
    • I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold
    • Concerto for Vibraphone
    • The Moorlands
    • Big Four on the River
    • All Dark Is Now No More
    • Temple's Grace
    • From the Shaken Tower
    • Two-Lane Blacktop
    • Sinfonietta no. 3
  • compositions
    • wind ensemble
    • clarinet >
      • all clarinet works
      • clarinet sonata
      • AUTO '66 - Clarinet Concerto
    • saxophone >
      • all saxophone works
      • Saxophone Sonata
      • L'oiseau dans l'espace
      • Saxophone/Percussion Double Quartet
    • trombone >
      • all trombone works
      • Trombone Sonata
      • Five American Dances
      • Song of the Valar
      • Bass Trombone Sonata
      • Partiels 2
      • Garden of the Gods
    • Other Brass Works >
      • Of Unsurpassed Heroes
      • Trumpet Sonata
    • Percussion >
      • The Dandelion
      • NOLA - BELA - SOWEGA
    • large ensemble >
      • Tin Lizzies on Old Fall River
      • LASCAUX
      • KAFKA - Sax Concerto
    • chamber ensemble >
      • Clarinet and Horn Trio
    • solo / electroacoustic
    • choral / vocal >
      • KUBLA KHAN
  • contact
  • Report Performance