Denise Gainey, Chris Steele and James Zingara
A new recording by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s James Zingara, DMA, features 21st-century works for trumpet, including two by Associate Professor of Music William Price, DMA.
As assistant professor of trumpet, Zingara teaches trumpet and directs and coordinates UAB brass ensembles in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music. His new CD, “Textures: New Works for Trumpet,” is his debut release on Ravello Records. Also performing on the recording are Associate Professor Denise Gainey, DMA, clarinet, and instructor Chris Steele, DMA, piano. The works in this collection, all written after 2002, strengthen the trumpet’s diversity and adaptability in settings with computer-generated sounds, syncopated rhythms, blues forms and atonal harmonic structures, according to the label’s overview of the album. “Textures” was chosen by classical music website Naxos of America as one of its “featured” new releases for March 2016. The album is available on Amazon, iTunes and Spotify.
The works by Price, who teaches music theory and composition at UAB, are “Sans Titre VII” (2010), an extended work for solo trumpet which explores both physical space and musical distance as determinants of musical form, and “Ich bin Maroon, Part I” (2013), influenced by pandiatonicism, free atonality, traditional dance forms and hyperbolic rhythmic syncopation.
Gene FambroughThe CD also includes Carl Vollrath’s “For the Mark of Time” (2002), “Out of the Blue” (2014) by Valentin Mihai Bogdan and Jeffrey D. Boehm’s “Ovid’s Dream” (2011). Zingara’s brazen and vocal-like colors, as well as his aptness to perform in solo, chamber and electroacoustic settings, create an engaging exploration of these contemporary works, according to the overview.
Associate Professor of Percussion Gene Fambrough’s “Occam’s Razor” project is available for purchase on Amazon, on iTunes as a digital download, or as a physical CD from the Department of Music online store. Composed and performed by Fambrough, it features diverse instrumentation, capturing a variety of moods with works for soloist and soloist with percussion quartet. The Birmingham-based band Iron Giant Percussion, formed at UAB, provides percussion quartet accompaniment on two of the tracks. Of special note is that all of the tracks were recorded live, without the assistance of overdubs, punch-ins or multitracking, producing a highly organic result.
His latest compositions for percussion on the recording include “Occam’s Razor” with solo marimba and percussion quartet; “Torch,” a marimba solo; “Mario Can’t Dance in the Kitchen,” a solo percussion work inspired by his children; “Where Thou Art – That Is Home,” written in a chorale style for solo marimba; “Le Batteur,” a solo percussion based on the drumming of Neil Peart of Rush; and “Shadowfax,” written to feature modern rudimental drumming in the recital hall, with percussion quartet. The physical disc includes bonus features, including videos and digital booklets. Read more about Fambrough’s recordings and work at www.genefambrough.com.