Program Notes

Though I played in a rock band and dabbled in improvisation as a teenager, I did not become seriously interested in jazz and improvisation as a creative outlet until my mid-20’s. From about 1975-1984, I would get together with friends and play, and sometimes perform, freely structured jazz improvisations. Though I eventually became more interested in free improvisation, I initially improvised in a more traditional jazz setting that was based around a “tune”.

As a result, after a few years, I had written several tunes for different occasions. Some of these tunes I used in other works of various instrumentation and some were simple jazz tunes. In 1984, since I was no longer playing jazz, per se, I collected these tunes and made arrangements for solo piano. I found them to be very versatile as they are short, varied and generally rather easy listening.

I have arranged these tunes into three volumes. Each set of nine tunes is designed to be performed as a group, however, they can be mixed and matched as the performer deems necessary.