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Based on a tune by Stevie Ray Vaughan (a famous Texas blues guitarist I grew up listening to) called “Scuttle Buttin’”, Midway to Midtown is a fast-paced, highly energetic work. A “scuttle butt” is an old term for a water cooler and “scuttle buttin’” is an old term for gossiping around the water cooler—how stories get told a lot in the South. Midway to Midtown is full of quotations from blues riffs, harmonies evoking a jazz-based sound, and aggressively picked and slapped bass to mimic the sounds of a blues rock band like the one I heard on my first night in New York City.
Premiered by David Alan Miller and members of the Albany Symphony (NY) as part of the 2019 American Music Festival "First Draughts" Reading Session. |
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