Yakkety-Yak

Since 1999, I've been putting together programs with evolving, ad hoc collections of musicians. (I knew I wanted to have horns but I didn't want to call it a "horn" group, so I decided to use the other half of "Horn and Hardart".) It started out as a mixture of different things, but now I use it almost entirely as a vehicle for performances of stuff that I write - to one degree or another.

"A rollicking synthesis of contemporary classical, cool noir and freewheeling improvisation...the jump-cut musical style is playful and probing."

Ben Taylor, Time Out Chicago

"The HardArt groop is kind of, no...exactly like that."

Borch, The People's Republic of Music

"You try to be funny, and sometimes you succeed."

Charles Wuorinen, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (Needless to say I was flattered, but quite honestly I think he was flirting with me.)

"Are all these program notes supposed to help people understand the music?"

Scott Winship, Program Manager, Meet the Composer

Here's a link to a couple of interviews about my arrangement of Bicycle Race. I think I sound smart and sensitive: