Published: 2006
Publisher: Lecta Music Publications
Duration: 12:21
Grade: 6
Difficulty: Difficult
American Dances is an effort by the composer to play upon the boundaries separating classical, jazz, and popular music. The piece blends the sounds of “be-bop”, classical motifs, Latin, and jazz-rock inflected rhythms separated by brief moments of tranquility. The first movement “Allegro” has a “cool jazz” approach in complex meters; the second movement begins softly “Lento” with a familiar motif from the first movement then suddenly moves into “hard 12/8 shuffle”; the third movement “Tempo di Grimo (Presto) is fast and furious in ¾ with be-bop figures from the first movement followed by soft transition into the B section of the piece. This section features the trumpet soloist, the brass and the percussion section. The final movement returns with a mad dash to the end.