Concert Program

Chattanooga Choo Choo is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and composed by Harry Warren. It was originally recorded as a big band/swing tune by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade.

The main song opens with a dialog between a passenger and a shoeshine boy:

"Pardon me, boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?"

"Yes, yes, Track 29!"

"Boy, you can give me a shine."

The singer describes the train's route, originating from Pennsylvania Station in New York and running through Baltimore to North Carolina before reaching Terminal Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He mentions a woman he knew from an earlier time in his life, who will be waiting for him at the station and with whom he plans to settle down for good.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Released on Stevie Wonder’s seminal 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life, "Sir Duke" is a vibrant tribute to jazz giant Duke Ellington. The chart-topping hit celebrates the timeless joy of music, famously name-dropping musical pioneers like Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Michael Philip Mossman takes this familiar hit and adds his own unique touch. The opening features the brass with sax section fills. The middle section goes into a double-time swing and includes a solo for tenor sax, a soli for the saxes, and a drum break. All the familiar lines from the original are there too!

The highly acclaimed movie musical La La Land took home six Academy Awards including Best Original Song for City of Stars. Here is a great-sounding arrangement of this popular and charming song, scored for flexible instrumentation so groups of various sizes and instrumentations can enjoy performing it.

- Program note from publisher

Semper Gratus is Latin for “always grateful.” The piece was written in honor of James E. Champion, who taught band for thirty-eight years, twenty-five of which were spent in Florence, Alabama, where he was my elementary school and high school band director. His bands consistently achieved superior ratings throughout his career. He holds multi-decade-spanning memberships in professional music education organizations, continues to serve in helping with Alabama Bandmasters Association events, and conducts and performs in various community bands and ensembles. As my band director at Bradshaw High School, Mr. Champion encouraged me to perform one of my first compositions, a clarinet quartet, at solo/ensemble festival. He taught his students the fundamentals of music, the technical aspects of performance, and exposed them to the great standards of band literature.  But in doing so, he also modeled leadership, work-ethic, good character, and fostered the love of the activity of band that led me to choose music education as a career.  And for that, I will always be grateful.

- Program note from composer

Arranged by Michael Brown, this dynamic medley captures the irreverent charm and retro energy of the Marvel Studios franchise. Unlike traditional superhero films that rely solely on orchestral scores, Guardians of the Galaxy uniquely uses 1970s pop tracks from Peter Quill’s beloved cassette mixtapes as a core narrative device, linking him to his childhood on Earth. This five-minute musical montage seamlessly weaves together those iconic, feel-good hits with cinematic score elements. Tonight, the band brings that awesome mix to life, featuring the Marvel Studios Fanfare, Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling," Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love," The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb," Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and "Groot Cocoon," a lush, lyrical theme from Tyler Bates’s original film score.

John Philip Sousa’s The Liberty Bell is a quintessential American march, born from a moment of patriotic inspiration. While attending the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Sousa witnessed a massive parade centered around a giant replica of the Liberty Bell; his business manager suggested the name for a newly completed march, and a classic was born. Written in a buoyant  6/8 meter, the piece became an overnight sensation thanks to its optimistic energy and its unique orchestration, which famously features a chiming bell in the trio section. Beyond its status as a staple of military band literature, the march achieved a massive pop-culture resurgence in 1969 when it was chosen as the iconic theme song for the British comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Composed between 1953 and 1956—just a few years before West Side Story—Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is a brilliant comic operetta based on Voltaire’s 1759 French satire. While the full show never matched the commercial success of West Side Story, its dazzling Overture has endured as one of the most frequently performed concert openers in the repertoire. Written in a sophisticated sonata form that channels the wit and élan of Gilbert and Sullivan, the Overture bursts to life with a dramatic fanfare that serves as a recurring musical motto. This opening gives way to a stumbling, comedic shift in the music that underscores the show's battle scenes. Bernstein then weaves in a lyrical contrast from the duet "Oh Happy We" before launching into a brilliant codetta derived from the showstopping aria "Glitter and Be Gay." Chock-full of youthful optimism, this brief masterpiece concludes with a shower of musical sparks, utilizing fragments of everything heard before in a display of pure theatrical joy.

A Trumpeter's Lullaby was written at the request of Roger Voisin, principal trumpeter of the Boston Pops, who wanted a solo that departed from the traditionally loud, martial trumpet repertoire. Realizing he had never heard a lullaby for the instrument, Anderson composed this charming, two-and-a-half-minute piece featuring a quiet melody based on bugle notes over a gentle orchestral background. Premiered by Voisin and the Boston Pops in May 1950, this delightful miniature quickly became a definitive staple of the trumpet repertoire, later recorded by legends like Doc Severinsen and Al Hirt.

Program Note from Mark Duker:

In the fall of 2019, I sat in Wentz Hall as an audience member listening to the premiere of Concerto for You, written by Reena Esmail. That performance brought the answer to a question our staff had been asking for years – How can we incorporate music from South Asia into band music and our band program?  That night it finally seemed possible.

Reena has developed the incredible ability to take music that is meaningful and comfortable to a culture thousands of miles away and transform it so that a traditional western music ensemble can learn about it and share it with their audiences. She is able to write this music in a way that allows it to maintain its integrity while becoming accessible to a new audience. We are incredibly grateful that Reena was willing to consider this project that was a major departure from anything she’d previously written and hope this is the “spark” for Reena and many other composers to continue adding more of this music to our repertoire.

Program Note from Reena Esmail:

The word chamak means ‘spark’ in Hindi — and the title of this work was inspired by a beautiful couplet from the Indian saint-poet Kabir:

Just as a seed holds oil

And a spark holds fire

Your own spirit is inside of you

If you can awaken it, you must.

Each of the three movements of this piece explores a different translation of the word ‘chamak’: the first is Ember, which is a dark, smoky, lilting melody in Raag Bhimpalas. The second, Luster, is a warm, intimate journey in Raag Hamsadhwani. And the last movement, Spark, is a fiery, vibrant jaunt in Raag Jog.*

I hope this piece ignites a spark in two ways. As young creative people, just beginning to find their way in the world, I hope this piece is a reminder to follow that spark that lies within each of them. And more broadly, I hope that this piece sparks an interest in Indian classical music in the band world — these musical cultures have been separate for so many years, and I hope this piece sparks further connection between these two worlds.

*If you know these raags well, you’ll hear that both the Hamsadhwani and Jog are a little bit ‘mishra’ — meaning that there are a few turns of phrase that move slightly outside the parameters of the ‘pure’ version of the raag.

Tico-Tico no Fubá is the renowned Brazilian choro music piece composed by Zequinha de Abreu (né José Gomes de Abreu) in 1917. Its original title was Tico-Tico no Farelo, but since Brazilian guitarist Américo Jacomino Canhoto (1889–1928) had a work with the same title, Abreu's work was given its present name in 1931.

Choro (literally translated meaning lament) is also popularly known as chorinho in the affectionate diminutive form of Brazilian Portuguese. "Fubá" is a type of maize flour, and "tico-tico" is the name of a bird, the rufous-collared sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis). Hence, "tico-tico no fubá" means "sparrow in the cornmeal".

Tico-Tico no Fubá was recorded and made popular internationally by Carmen Miranda (who performed it onscreen in Copacabana (1947)) and Ray Conniff. It was also heard in the 1942 Disney animated film Saludos Amigos.

- Program Note by Wikipedia

This concert band arrangement pays homage to the original choro ensemble by using the woodwinds for much of the melody. The brass and percussion often provide the rhythm and groove of the piece. The arrangement was written by Japanese composer Naohiro Iwai. Most of Iwai’s career was spent as a jazz and pop performer and composer. He has made an effort to bring these styles to groups like wind ensembles, brass ensembles, and orchestras that more often play in the Classical style.

- Program Note from United States Marine Band concert program, 22 August 2019

Originally written for orchestra, Danzón No. 2 is built on a beautiful, elegant main theme that builds in intensity before erupting into passionate rhythms. The danzón itself was born from a "trans-cultural process" in Cuba, synthesizing European dance forms with vital African influences, all anchored by the syncopated pulse of the clave rhythm. Arturo Márquez was inspired to write the piece during trips to Veracruz and the dance parlors of Mexico City. The work serves as the composer's "very personal way of paying my respects and expressing my emotions towards truly popular music," offering a brilliant tribute to the nostalgic melodies and wild rhythms that nourish the genre.

Widely considered the most popular march ever written, The Stars and Stripes Forever was born of homesickness. While at sea in 1896 returning from Europe, John Philip Sousa was struck by divine inspiration, recalling: “Suddenly I began to sense the rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain... Throughout the whole tense voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes.” Upon reaching shore, he penned the notes exactly as he heard them. Sousa later explained that the march's famous final trio represents three sections of the country: the broad main melody typifies the North, the iconic piccolo obbligato represents the South, and the bold trombone countermelody symbolizes the West. Universally beloved, this masterpiece transcends borders as a global symbol of joy, famously prompting a New York Times critic to call it "the greatest piece of music ever written by an American." Today, it stands as the official National March of the United States, having been formally designated by an Act of Congress in 1987.