Audio Recordings

Colin first played this tune as a member of the Cal State East Bay Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dave Eshelman. He would like to dedicate this arrangement to Dave for passing on so much knowledge and wisdom.

Jeanne originally arranged this piece for Realistic Orchestra's tribute concert to Stevie Wonder. “But what I'd like to know, is could a place like this exist so beautiful; or do we have to take our wings and fly away, to the visions in our mind?”.

Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) was a well regarded sixteenth century Spanish composer deeply influenced by Palestrina who primarily wrote sacred works for Catholic church services. This Motet, originally written for a male choir, was written to celebrate the Christmas season and was later used as source material for the Kyrie of Victoria's mass Missa O magnum mysterium.

I grew up in a steel town up in Ontario, Canada. The skyline is one of smoke stacks releasing huge, dark, gray clouds and tall flames that reach up into the sky, day and night. The air and water are both pretty toxic, although much better today, apparently, from when I was young. A friend I grew up with from this town now has a home in the country that he designed himself. He has wind and solar power generators, and for awhile was producing enough energy to sell power back to the government. He grows his own food, and gets eggs from his own chickens. This piece was inspired by him, the example he sets, and his contrast with the industrial world. — Darren Johnston

Defined as “an emotional reaction to pressure or persuasion that results in the strengthening or adoption of a contrary belief.” The positive aspect of reactance in my life has been my relentless push to become a better musician, while reacting to the inequities in society that result in the unfair judgement and assessment of women. I composed this for the fulfillment of my Master's Thesis at CSUEB. — Jeanne Geiger

A great tune written by Bobby Watson that I heard performed when he was with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. — Doug Rowan

I wrote this piece for the Realistic Orchestra — initially hearing DJ Aspect scratching over some of the long held notes and the piece being played in more of a funk manner. However, Aspect stopped playing with the band and it seemed to work better played in a fast swing feel, so that's how it's been played ever since. Even though it mainly features the tenor sax soloist, I wanted to give everyone in the band a chance to contribute, so there's a section where there's kind of a group horn improvisation that approximates a squeezebox played behind the soloist.

In all my years studying with Dave Eshelman, I'd only heard one small jazz combo piece of his that he hadn't arranged for a big band. Dave is such a great big band writer, and I've learned so much from his teachings. I arranged this for his retirement concert at CSUEB. — Jeanne Geiger

A tone poem for big band, and in my mind, I heard someone like Richard Bona or Milton Nascimento singing the melody wordlessly in that amazing pure falsetto they both possess — thus the title “Wordless”. Trivia fact — the melody is supported by 22 consecutive different chords ... — Michael Zilber

I tried to go between different feels in this piece and also give the crowd the thrill of an alto sax duel (or collaboration, depending on who's playing). The title refers to the movement of the chord changes, which are often in a state of flux. —Erik Jekabson