Last semester was the first time I ever performed music written by Gunther Schuller. As part of New England Conservatory’s Jazz50 Celebration, the NEC Philharmonia and NEC Jazz Orchestra combined forces to produce the third performance of Gunther’s tour-de-force Encounters (2003). The piece was originally written to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Jordan Hall, NEC’s […]
Author Archives: samspearmusic
February 2020 Newsletter
[Subscribe to see this in your inbox] Greetings, friends! I can’t believe we are nearing mid-February in this new decade. Time seems to be slipping by so quickly, but I work hard each day to feel like the time was well spent. January was a whirlwind of school, work, research, and setting the building blocks […]
Encountering Gunther: Charlie Parker’s Lament
It is no secret nor surprise that Charlie Parker is one of my greatest musical heroes. I’m well acquainted with the classic recordings, have transcribed numerous solos, and try to emulate his stylings in my own playing. So then it should be no surprise to the reader that one of the most intriguing parts of […]
Introducing Encountering Gunther
When I knew I wanted to attend New England Conservatory (NEC), I wanted to understand the history behind America’s first private music school and the first to have a full-fledged jazz department. I quickly found that perhaps the most influential figure in NEC’s recent history was horn player/composer/conductor/historian/author Gunther Schuller. I wrote a paper about […]
January 2020 Newsletter
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful celebration surrounded by family, friends, amazing music, and delicious food. One of my most important New Years Resolutions is to get back into sending out my monthly newsletters and more frequent social media posts. I became very caught up in my first semester of my graduate […]
Music I Like That ISN’T Jazz
I often get asked if I listen to music that is not jazz. While the majority of my listening is jazz-centric, I also enjoy a lot of music that most would probably not classify as “jazz.” The origins and relevance of the term “jazz” itself is rife with controversy, and what constitutes “jazz music” is […]
October 2019 Newsletter
I’ve just completed my first month of studying at New England Conservatory! It has been an amazing experience so far. I am taking classes on saxophone, composition, improvisation, and orchestration and loving every second. I have also been fortunate to work in NEC’s beautiful Blumenthal Library and as a teaching assistant in the Music Theory […]
Four – Is There More To It?
I am in the process of building up a quintet book for my band consisting of originals and arrangements of my favorite standards. One of the tunes I have arranged is pianist/composer Tadd Dameron’s “If You Could See Me Now.” The ballad became a signature piece in vocalist Sarah Vaughan’s repertoire. I first came across […]
Jitterbug Waltz
I have an affinity for the Great American Songbook. To clarify, the Great American Songbook is not a literal book (though there are compilations of tunes from the repertoire such as the infamous Real Books, which usually also include jazz and sometimes rock tunes) but rather a phrase commonly used to refer to the popular […]
Meet the Gellers
Sometimes it can be a struggle to put on some new music. I find a lot of comfort in listening to my favorite albums over and over again. While I do deepen my understanding and appreciation of this music when I listen to it again, it is important to be exposed to more artists. I […]
