NEC Jazz Composers' Workshop Orchestra

The NEC Jazz Composers' Workshop Orchestra features NEC students performing NEC student–composed works, under the direction of Frank Carlberg.

Some of the composers/arrangers have supplied descriptions of their works.

Frank Carlberg Federico on Broadway
soloists: Cale Israel, trombone; Jacob Sieckman, Tyler Burchfield, saxophone; Derek Friesen, trumpet

Pat Pace arr. Casey Brefka Asila
soloists: Eunyoung Kim, piano; Clayton DeWalt, trombone

Asila was written by an Akron, Ohio jazz legend, Pat Pace. Pace was a child prodigy; his first public appearance was at the age of 7, playing the accordion. By the age of 16, he was already playing in the nightclubs of Akron and Cleveland, and at 17 had accepted a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. Straddling the line between jazz and classical music, Pace returned to Akron after Juilliard, where he was the first-call pianist when the big names like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie came to town. He also wrote several classical pieces, performed by the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Philharmonic. For the last 20 years of his life, he retired to his home and taught the new generation of musicians. He died at the age of 75 in 2006.

Pat Pace was my piano teacher when I was in high school, and he also taught me how to really write music. He was a great inspiration to me when I first started to write music, and more than that, he was one of my best friends. A year before he passed away, I took my last lesson with him, and he gave me the sheet music to a tune he had written for his wife, Lisa, entitled Asila, which was "a Lisa" backwards. After he passed away, I wanted to do something to remember him by, so I have been working on this arrangement for a long time.

Originally a Bossa Nova, I took his original work and made it my own, just as he taught me to do when I was learning how to play jazz piano from him. The style of this piece is also partially inspired by Maria Schneider's Dança Ilusoria off of her 2004 Concert in the Garden CD.

Devin Roth Aurora Borealis
soloists: Andrew Halchak, saxophone; Eunyoung Kim, piano

Steve Bass The Grade School Suite
Morning/Goin’ to School - Hallway Promenade - The Crush - Hallway Promenade - Recess - Hallway Promenade - Goin’ Home   
soloists: Tyler Burchfield, Andrew Halchak saxophone; Derek Friesen, trumpet

Drew Morell West Meets West
soloists: Aquiles Navarro, trumpet; Andrew Van Tassel, saxophone; Ben Eunson, guitar; Kevin Abdella, bass

West Meets West is a tribute to two great West Coast jazz idioms—the "West-Coast-Cool" octets à la Gerry Mulligan and the live studio orchestras that played the talk shows and TV theme songs. The piece switches back and forth between the two sounds as if each group were interpreting the same piece in its own way.

Tyler Gilmore JCWO Piece #1, based on a theme by Thomas Adès
soloist: Andrew Halchak, saxophone

Mina Cho Ballade No. 4 (after Frédéric Chopin)
soloists: Andrew Van Tassel, Andrew Halchak, saxophone; Ben Eunson, guitar; Connor Baker, drums

Chase Morrin Bansky
soloists: Derek Friesen, trumpet; Andrew Halchak, saxophone

Bansky is the revised spelling of Banksy, the well-known English street artist. His themes are often transparent but impactful, and this piece tries to capture his concept of modern commentary.