An amazing short film by Jamie Sharp.

You can follow Jamie on his instagram page  https://www.instagram.com/jamie_sharp/
More about Tim McAllister here http://timothymcallister.com/
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A truly special weekend spent at Potton Hall recording an album of Saxophone repertoire by composer Andy Scott. Meet American Saxophonist Timothy McAllister, his pianist Liz Ames and have a look at behind the scenes of this album.

Team
Andy Scott - Composer
Tim McAllister - Saxophonist
Liz Ames - Pianist
Rachel Smith - Producer
Peter Newble - Sound Engineer
Emma McPhilemy - Page Turner
Jamie Sharp - Videographer

This is a live recording of the premiere at the North American Saxophone Alliance Region 4 Opening Concert 2019 Faulkner Performing Arts Center, University of Arkansas with Dr. Chris Knighten conducting the University of Arkansas Saxophone Ensemble.

Originally written for two altos and saxophone ensemble, Tjuonavagge was commissioned by Selmer Paris Saxophones and given a world premiere performance at the 9th RNCM Saxophone Day in November 2009 with soloists Vincent David and Carl Raven. Gillian Blair and Nathan Mertens gave the world premiere of the version for two solo alto saxophones and piano with Rie Yokota (piano) at the World Saxophone Congress, Zagreb, Croatia, July 2018.

As well as performing in a saxophone duo with Nathan, Gillian is also a member of the Borealis Saxophone Quartet and the Polaris Duo (saxophone and Harp). More about Gillian on her website HERE and Nathan on his website HERE.

Tjuonavagge by Andy Scott for two altos and saxophone ensemble is available HERE

Tjuonavagge by Andy Scott for two altos and piano is available HERE

Another great live performance of Interference by Will Gregory for solo saxophone with electronics, this time by Tom Plater performing it at the XVIII World Saxophone Congress 2018 in Zagreb.

Will Gregory's says, "There are certain undefined, misheard or otherwise unclear sounds that leave our brains free to invent and delude. One device which favours sounds of this type is the AM radio. Was that someone whistling the last bar of the Czech National Anthem while playing space invaders in a revolving door; or just a low battery. The leap that we make towards interpreting what we cannot hear also has a strong element of nostalgia. Perhaps we will never again hear something quite like that. Our aerial will never pass exactly through that same strip of space. In the end we accept the shortfall between our ears and our understanding. We can choose to enjoy it. We can have a big knees-up to a good signal, even if we're not sure of what it is or where it comes from."

Check out Tom Plater's website HERE

Interference for saxophone and CD by Will Gregory is available as a hard copy and PDF download HERE

We love it when we come across videos of music available from one of our composers, and this video is no exception. A great video of Three Letter Word by Andy Scott for saxophone and piano. This is a performance by Chad Lilley on alto saxophone with Liz Ames on piano recorded at the Britton Recital Hall, University of Michigan School of Music. 

Three Letter Word is dedicated to the music and memory of the Swedish composer and pianist Esbjorn Svensson, who was tragically killed in a diving accident on 14 June 2008, aged only 44 years.
Andy Scott writes “I was fortunate enough to hear Esbjorn Svensson in concert at the IAJE Conference in New York City in January 2006, where I was also performing with duo partner, percussionist Dave Hassell. In the afternoon he practised for two hours, playing classical music, and in the evening his trio, E.S.T., produced an amazing show of virtuosity and creativity, coupling inventive compositions with daring improvisations within very individual sound worlds.
In terms of writing a piece for alto saxophone and piano I have taken two sound worlds: one is rhythmically free with virtuosic saxophone lines and an underlying tremolo based around four notes from the piano, the second is based around a two-bar piano riff over which the saxophone explores different musical possibilities. Both these ideas return in different guises before a solo piano chorale precedes a final section. Hidden in the piece is a short melodic quote from Dolores in a Shoestand from the E.S.T. album Tuesday Wonderland (2006).
The title of the piece, Three Letter Word, came about from coincidence and names or phrases that may be abbreviated: Esbjorn Svensson's group, the commissioning body, the players that the piece was written for, and maybe most importantly given the dedicatee, the words 'rest in peace'.”
Three Letter Word was commissioned by the Park Lane Group for performance by Huw Wiggin and Timothy Abel in the PLG Young Artists New Year Series in the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London on 14 January 2010.

​Three Letter Word by Andy Scott for saxophone and piano is available here