This piece was commissioned by Joe Smith and the Colorado Brass Quintet for their performance at the 2025 NABBA Championships and written in the fall of 2024. I had recently been on a trip to New Zealand with my wife, and while I live a rather charmed life that involves frequent travel to various interesting locations this was a life-changing experience and it became the inspiration for this piece.

Written for the Billy Wolfe Composers' Octet, this open-ended small group jazz tune is based on a training exercise used by auctioneers to develop speed and clarity saying numbers.

Orchestral transcription for band of the fourth movement from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s African Suite (Opus 34). Commissioned by the Ridge View High School Wind Ensemble (Dustin King, director) and premiered during their performance at the 2021 University of South Carolina Honor Band Clinic as part of the South Carolina Music Educators Association Conference.

Written for Bass Trombonist Matt Jefferson and recorded on his album "Jeffersonian", this lyrical solo is inspired by the Norse myth of Kvasir as retold by author Neil Gaiman.
It is available with brass quintet or solo accompaniment.

Virtually conceived and recorded chart featuring solo space for processed trumpet. Among many influences, it is an homage to the late Chicago bassist Kelly Sill and his "triad game"

Written for the Billy Wolfe Composers' Octet, this subdued piece is highly influenced by the music of John Hollenbeck.

This piece was commissioned by Joe Smith in the fall of 2024 and went through several iterations before its current form. The original concept was for a flugelhorn solo with a modern style backing track for accompaniment, and to be more of a technical piece than the more typical lyrical ballad. Both of those elements have remained true throughout the process, but it also expanded to include learning about working within Logic Pro on automations and MIDI, and various ways of digitally processing a flugelhorn sound both live and after being recorded. Shout out to Jacob Beinborn for his technical and musical contributions with the backing track (notably the percussion/digital sound design elements within the track and the initial flugel processing ideas), and Caleb Alexander for his technical expertise and final mastering of the tracks.

The title of “To The Forefront” comes from a shared history Joe and I have with the Santa Clara Vanguard; Joe marched there and I taught there for almost a decade, and we both like the idea that the name vanguard implies being at the leading edge of things. I won’t claim anything in this piece is truly groundbreaking, but it was definitely fun to explore new ideas and compositional processes and it also led to a general progression throughout the piece from more pure acoustic-based sounds to more processed and digital ones.

Performance Notes:
While written originally for flugelhorn, the piece is equally suited for trumpet or cornet and I would be eager to hear interpretations using those instruments.

The idea of digitally processing the flugel sound was definitely a part of the plan for the piece, but you should not feel obligated to include this aspect in your own performance. If you do want to include digital processing as part of your performance, there are a few options listed in the score notes.

Note - When ordering, the backing track will be sent separately to ensure the most appropriate format is provided. Feel free to reach out in advance to discuss options.

As performed by Zephyr Brass, trombone feature

Written for the University of Akron Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble and recorded on their album "Homemade Salsa", this standard by Chick Corea is for 5 horns and rhythm section in a Bembe style.

Commissioned by Ridge View High School in South Carolina, this was a unique opportunity to use some of my musical interests and experiences (extended large ensemble music, Afro-diasporic grooves) and put them all together in a way that let two very different musical ensembles play together and learn about each other. Also playable with drum set, please use the inquiry form to ask about getting parts for your exact percussion needs.