Although these pieces are known and respected among pianists by reputation, the sonatas themselves are rarely heard or performed. This recording is one of only four recordings of these pieces in print, of the four recordings of these sonatas, only this recording and one other were performed on the piano, the instrument for which these sonatas were written. This recording is the only piano recording of these pieces to make use of historically informed practices. These pieces are accessible and exciting additions to Classical era repertoire and are suitable for working concert pianists, advanced piano students, or teachers who are looking for new repertoire.

One afternoon in Houston in the Spring of 1989, hornist Thomas Bacon’s agent called him in from another room by saying, “You’ve got to come listen to this…!” Composer Mark Schultz had sent Bacon a copy of his recently completed Dragons in the Sky for horn, percussion and tape asking if he might consider coming over to Austin to premiere the music at The University of Texas. The answer was an immediate ‘yes’ and the performance a month later was enthusiastically received.

Jazz listeners living in the Los Angeles area and musicians worldwide have long known that Carl Saunders is one of the great trumpet players around today. Now with the release of five remarkable recordings (Out Of The Blue, Eclecticism, Bebop Big Band, Can You Dig Being Dug and The Lost Bill Holman Charts), Carl’s musical talents can be heard and enjoyed by a much wider audience.
Carl Saunders was born on Aug. 2, 1942 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and his first five years were mostly spent on the road. His uncle, trumpeter-bandleader Bobby Sherwood, was riding high with the popular Sherwood Orchestra–having hits with “Elks Parade” and “Sherwood’s Forest.” Saunders’ mother Gail (Bobby’s sister) sang for the Sherwood Orchestra and Stan Kenton, among others. When Carl was five, he and his mother settled in Los Angeles; living with his aunt Caroline and her husband, tenor-saxophonist Dave Pell. At the time, Saunders heard the records of the Dave Pell Octet and was influenced by the style and phrasing of trumpeter Don Fagerquist.

Tuba and euphonium player Daniel Perantoni has been notable for the wide range of his activities, encompassing both classical and jazz performance as well as instrument design, consulting, and a pedagogical career that has landed students in major teaching and performing organizations. A 1963 graduate of the University of Rochester, Perantoni went on for a master’s from the Catholic University of America, finishing in 1968. He has long been associated with the University of Indiana’s Jacobs School of Music, where he succeeded the legendary Harvey Phillips (who, in the words of New Yorker critic Whitney Balliett, was the main figure in elevating the tuba “from the laughingstock of musical instruments to one of its kings”). Following that feat, Perantoni chose to become active on a variety of fronts. His appearances as a soloist have occurred in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and the Spoleto Festival, and have taken him to the Montreux Brass Congress in Switzerland and to Japan. Perantoni co-founded Summit Brass, “the first and only truly American brass ensemble to represent the United States”; this American all-star brass group has made numerous recordings. He has also performed with the St. Louis Brass Quintet and the brass ensemble Symphonia. On the jazz side, Perantoni was recruited by Phillips into the Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort, a group consisting of three tubas, three euphoniums (euphonia?), and a rhythm section. Perantoni and Robert Tucci have designed their own line of low brass instruments, named Perantucci, and he has served as a consultant and liaison to the educational world for the Custom Music firm. Perantoni is the holder of a lifetime achievement award from T.U.B.A., the Tubists International Brotherhood Association (now the International Tuba and Euphonium Association). To his students at Indiana he is known as Mr. P.

Jim Shearer holds a D. M. A. in Performance and Literature and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He teaches tuba, euphonium, music history, and music appreciation to graduate, undergraduate, and honors students at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he holds the joint titles of Regents Professor of Music and Distinguished Achievement Professor. In addition, he presents concerts, master classes, and lectures as a Yamaha Performing Artist. An active classical soloist, Dr. Shearer has appeared throughout the United States as a guest artist with various wind ensembles and orchestras and in solo and chamber recital performances in The Great American Tuba Show and The Great American Trio. In the early 1990s, he traveled to Switzerland as a participant in the 47th Concours International d’Exécution Musicale, the first time this prestigious competition included the tuba as a solo instrument. He has toured Japan as a member of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, playing concerts and recording a compact disc for the Sony Classical label. In 2006, Shearer toured Colombia with the NMSU Faculty Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble for the United States Department of State. While in Colombia, he performed for over 25,000 people at the national band festival and gave educational classes in Bogotá and Paipa. He is a former Principal Tubist with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, the current Principal Tubist for both the Roswell and Las Cruces Symphony Orchestras, and a former member of El Paso Brass, with whom he released three commercial recordings. His playing can also be heard on blues artist Eric Bibb’s CD Diamond Days on Telarc Records. During a regional broadcast on NPR, Saint Paul Sundayhost Bill McGlaughlin referred to Shearer and his tuba playing as the “lowest of the low brass!” (We think he meant it as a compliment.)

PERSONAL BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION

A veritable “Ambassador of Jazz,” Professor Michael Tracy is one of America’s foremost jazz educators, with more than thirty-five years of performing and teaching experience. In classrooms, studios, and concert halls, he has developed a variety of innovative approaches to jazz education, enabling him to work with students of any proficiency. Tracy has taught and performed throughout the United States, Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, and Wales. As a Fulbright Senior Specialist, he helped establish a jazz program at the Estonian Music Academy in Tallinn, Estonia. He has frequently coordinated and hosted groups sponsored by the Open World Cultural Program, an organization that brings jazz musicians from Russia to the United States to interact with their American counterparts. Tracy has also been instrumental in establishing faculty and student exchanges and workshops with institutions in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Poland and Russia.

Scott was born is West Virginia, in 1951, while his father was at the University of West Virginia. When he was very young they moved to the small town of Greenfield, Ohio where he grew up with his younger brother and two younger sisters. He had a close Italian family with plenty of aunts, uncles and grandparents. Family vacations, gatherings and sports were favorites.

Lee McKinney, a talented and versatile jazz drummer, is based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, a half-hour east of Dayton and an hour away from both Cincinnati and Columbus. He recalls how he got started: “When I was a kid, I heard drummers on the Ed Sullivan Show and I always loved the sound of a good snare drum. When I was in the fifth grade my parents rented me a snare drum kit, I was soon in the band in school and, by the time I was a freshman in high school, I decided that I wanted to see if I could make a career out of playing drums.”

TIM ZIMMERMAN AND THE KING’S BRASS

One afternoon in Houston in the Spring of 1989, hornist Thomas Bacon’s agent called him in from another room by saying, “You’ve got to come listen to this…!” Composer Mark Schultz had sent Bacon a copy of his recently completed Dragons in the Sky for horn, percussion and tape asking if he might consider coming over to Austin to premiere the music at The University of Texas. The answer was an immediate ‘yes’ and the performance a month later was enthusiastically received.

Although these pieces are known and respected among pianists by reputation, the sonatas themselves are rarely heard or performed. This recording is one of only four recordings of these pieces in print, of the four recordings of these sonatas, only this recording and one other were performed on the piano, the instrument for which these sonatas were written. This recording is the only piano recording of these pieces to make use of historically informed practices. These pieces are accessible and exciting additions to Classical era repertoire and are suitable for working concert pianists, advanced piano students, or teachers who are looking for new repertoire.