This piece is based around the 60 minutes in an hour. 60 is a great number to work with since it’s divisible by so many integers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30). I chose to work with the prime numbers in the batch – except for 1 since using 1 for what I had in mind would lead to constant sixteenth-notes – since these prime numbers would in fact give me all of the other dividends through repetition. I wrote a baseline that had a note every 2, 3, and 5 sixteenth-notes. The rhythmic phrase repeats itself every 30 beats since 30 is the lowest common denominator for 2, 3, and 5. Treating every beat as a minute in an hour I repeated the rhythmic phrase twice to complete one statement of the whole baseline and to give me my 60 minutes/beats. The piece is split into three 60 beat sections. The first section is in 4/4, the second section is in 3/4, and the third section is in 5/4. The bass line is the same in each of these sections but the different feels paints it in a new light so that you don’t even notice that it’s unchanging. The melody and harmonic movement was determined by the implied harmony of the bass line, the harmony of which was really just based on what I was hearing–no crazy method here, just my subjective ear. The rhythms of the melodies were not tied to the the 2, 3, and 5 of the bass line but I instead chose to weave them around the fixed pattern and accentuate it when I felt it was necessary. The chordal harmonies change from section to section as the different meters change how the bass line is divided bar to bar.

This recording is from my senior recital at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City on April 10, 2006. Alto saxophonist, John Beaty takes a solo over the C section. See below for personnel and charts.

Audio:

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And a video of the same performance:

Takuya Kuroda, trumpet
Joe Beaty, trombone
Masahiro Yamamoto, soprano saxophone
John Beaty, alto saxophone
Colin Killalea, tenor saxophone
Meilana Gillard, bass clarinet
Kenny Grohowski, drums
Christopher Tordini, electric bass
Alex Hills, piano, compositions, arrangements

This piece was inspired by the vocal arrangements performed by the Bulgarian Women’s Choir.

Kelly Watson, alto flute
Masahiro Yamamoto, soprano saxophone
Curtis Macdonald, alto saxophone
Colin Killalea, tenor saxophone
Alex Hills, composition, arrangement

Audio

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Video