Eclectic mix of rock, heavy metal, jazz, and classical compositions done with dark, humorous, and playful elements.

31 MP3 Songs in this album (54:51) !
Related styles: ROCK: Post-Rock/Experimental, AVANT GARDE: Modern Composition

People who are interested in Frank Zappa Kronos Quartet Mahavishnu Orchestra should consider this download.


Details:
Iâm a native of North Platte, NE and now live in Omaha, NE, where I started studying music formally many years ago. I continued my studies in California at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles, where I played in several bands and orchestras. After fifteen years I moved back to Omaha. Somewhere between then and now I ended up with a degree in music from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

My primary love in music is composition. I was constantly composing before studying formally and have been doing so up until up until the present. Iâve played everything from Hank Williams to Black Sabbath, John McLaughlin, Palestrina, Beethoven, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage. Iâve also loved film scores from an early age. I studied film scoring at UCLA with Don B. Ray, then a supervisor of music at CBS. He, in turn, studied under Arnold Schoenberg while Arne himself taught at UCLA.

All of these influences are in my brain somewhere when I compose.

Iâve had several fine composition teachers and experiences. However, I think that playing in orchestras was incredibly helpful in understanding how a piece of music is constructed. Without that experience, I felt as though I had been learning how to swim without ever getting into the water. For me, orchestra rehearsals were composition lessons that there was no substitutions for, and that could never be equaled. The same goes for other types of music, as well. I didnât understand Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad, John McLaughlin, or Duke Ellington, until I actually played their music with other musicians.

Iâve been told that my music is dark, and Iâve been told that it is funny. Iâve been told that it sounds dark AND funny. I like to use non-repetitive and repetitive modal and tonal counterpoint, heavy metal patterns, jazz-punk-rock noises, and howls of pain and laughter. 12-Tone/serial.

Iâm from the heartland, but that heart sometimes springs violent leaks and squirts crimson everywhere.

Microstories, Vol. I:

Each Volume is made up of a set of 31 evolving and de-evolving, loosely related pieces.

Iâve written four Volumes so far.

No set instrumentation or style.