Description
Jazzscapes
Composed by Sonny Burnette (b. 1952)
for Flute Choir
Published by Pine Castle Music Publications
Duration: 10 minutes
Includes score and parts
Instrumentation:
2 Piccolos
4 C Flutes
Alto Flute (or C Flute substitute)
Bass Flute
Winner of the James Madison University Flute Choir 1997 Compsition Competition.
I. I Can't Dance
II. Bushmen of the Kalahari
III. Caribbean Sunstroke
IV. Under Gray Skies
V. We Be Beboppin'
“Jazzscapes” by Sonny Burnette is a five movement suite for flute choir. The first movement, I Can't Dance, is an up-tempo jazz waltz based on the mixolydian mode. Extra-musical elements are used in the second movement, Bushmen of the Kalahari, including oral clicks and flute pad pops, influence by the music and language of African culture. Written in a Latin style, the third movement, Caribbean Sunstroke, features a repeating underlying harmonic progression (known as a Montuno), with melodies and harmonies floating over top. Under Gray Skies, the fourth movement, is a jazz ballad based on a melancholy 19th-century poem. The final movement, We Be Beboppin', features an upbeat bebop-style piece, with opportunities for solos in the middle.