Joren Cain, saxophone
David Springfield, trombone
Maila Gutierrez Springfield, piano
Valdosta State University Faculty Artists
Astor Piazzolla: La Muerte del Angel
Bill Schmid: Insomnia (2010)
Tayloe Harding: The Springfield Trio (2005)
1. Vivace - 3. Allegro
Horace Silver: Peace/The St. Vitus Dance
William Bolcom: Child-Stealer (from Lilith)
Christopher Theofanidis: Netherland (1993)
2. Brutal; swirling, out of focus
David Springfield: Two Langston Hughes Poems (2006)
1. The Weary Blues -- 2. The Dream Keeper
Patrick Long: Academic Finale (2005)
Joren Cain is a saxophone soloist well-versed in both classical and jazz idioms. A Chicago native, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northern Illinois University, where he studied saxophone with Steve Duke. He continued his studies with Jim Riggs at the University of North Texas, where he was a Teaching Fellow, a member of the 2 O’Clock Lab Band, and earned his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. As an educator, Cain was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University. He is currently Associate Professor of saxophone and director of the New Jazz Ensemble at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. He has contributed several articles for GIA’s “Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz,” and he has published articles discussing the saxophone sonatas of Edison Denisov and Fernande Decruck’s Sonata in C#. Dr. Cain is committed to the study and performance of contemporary saxophone music and has commissioned over a dozen new works for the instrument. His playing has been applauded by composers Sammy Nestico, Alfred Reed, and Jindřich Feld. He has performed as a soloist across the U.S. and abroad, including Germany and the Czech Republic. Additionally, Dr. Cain served as a member of The United States Army Field Band, the Army’s premier touring concert band, for four years. He performed as a featured soloist, acted as staff arranger, and was the soprano saxophonist in the TUSAFB Saxophone Quartet. Currently, he has an active performance schedule as a soloist, a member of the Maharlika Trio, and as a freelance musician throughout the southeastern United States. Joren Cain is proud to be an RS Berkeley artist.
David Springfield, Assistant Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at Valdosta State University, teaches jazz piano, improvisation, arranging, combos and jazz history. He is also a member of the Faculty Jazz Combo and directs the VSU Jazz Ensemble. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies, both from the Eastman School of Music. Since 2004, he has been the jazz instructor for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program. As a performer, Mr. Springfield has appeared with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Savannah, Charleston and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras. He performs with the Savannah Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Composer’s Octet and has appeared with the Georgia Jazz Educators Big Band at the annual GMEA conferences. With the chamber group, Maharlika Trio, Mr. Springfield has performed at national conferences of the College Music Society and the North American Saxophone Alliance.
Maila Gutierrez Springfield is an instructor at Valdosta State University and a member of the Maharlika Trio, a group dedicated to commissioning and performing new works for saxophone, trombone and piano. She can be heard on saxophonist Joren Cain’s CD Voices of Dissent and on clarinetist Linda Cionitti’s CD Jag & Jersey. MusicWeb International selected Jag & Jersey as the recording of the month for February 2010 and noted that Maila “is superb in the taxing piano part with its striding bass lines and disjointed rhythms”. For Voices of Dissent, the American Record Guide describes Maila as “an excellent pianist, exhibiting solid technique and fine touch and pedal work." Twice-honored with the Excellence in Accompanying Award at Eastman School of Music, Maila has been staff accompanist for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, Georgia Southern University, the Buffet Crampon Summer Clarinet Academy and the Interlochen Arts Camp, where she had the privilege of working with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. She has collaborated with members of major symphony orchestras, including those in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Jacksonville. She was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from Syracuse University, and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music.
PROGRAM NOTES
Ástor Piazzolla (1921-1992) pretty much single-handedly reinvented the Argentine national dance, the tango, transforming it into a new style aptly called nuevo tango ("new tango"). Born in Argentina, Piazzolla spent most of his childhood in New York, and there he gained exposure to and a fondness for jazz and classical music. But through his father's influence he also gained proficiency on the bandoneón, a type of concertina that is a staple of Argentine tango ensembles, and when he returned to Argentina in 1937 he played with some of the leading bands in Buenos Aires. He also began the serious study of composition with noted composer Alberto Ginastera, and for an early symphony he won a grant in 1953 from the French government to study in Paris with legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger, whose illustrious students ranged from Aaron Copland and Elliott Carter to Quincy Jones and Burt Bacharach, found Piazzolla's music was well-crafted but too derivative of Bartók, Stravinsky and Ravel. When she finally got him to play for her some of the music he wrote for his cabaret band, she convinced him to toss out his other works and concentrate on what was uniquely his own. He returned to Argentina in 1955, his "new tango," which infused traditional elements with characteristics of jazz and incorporated contrapuntal techniques and formal elements adapted from his classical studies. The new style was met with resistance in his homeland, but Europeans and North Americans were captivated by it and his international career blossomed. It is estimated that he composed over a staggering 3,000 pieces, and he recorded about 500 of them himself!
Born in Ft. Riley, Kansas, Bill Schmid was raised in Huber Heights, Ohio and learned to play the trumpet from his father. He received a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Dayton; he then earned a master’s degree in music education (jazz pedagogy) and a doctorate in trumpet performance - both from the University of North Texas. During his five years in Texas, his professional playing encompassed classical, jazz and commercial performances in the Dallas/Fort Worth region. Before coming to Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, Georgia) in 1986, Dr. Schmid taught for two years at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (Canada). He is currently an Associate Professor of Music at GSU and, in addition to teaching trumpet, is the Director of Jazz Studies. Schmid also performs regularly with the Savannah Jazz Orchestra and other groups in the Savannah/Hilton Head area. His big band and combo works have been performed throughout Georgia, including premieres by the Georgia Directors Big Band and at the Savannah Jazz Festival by the SJO.
Tayloe Harding is dean of the School of Music at the University of South Carolina, former interim dean of the South Carolina Honors College, and was president of the College Music Society (CMS) from 2005-2006. An active member of and consultant for National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), CMS, SCI and ASCAP, he is a frequent presenter on issues facing the future of university music units and their leadership. He remains active as a composer, earning commissions, performances and recordings for his works around the world.
Horace Silver (1928-2014) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his distinctive playing style and pioneering compositional contributions to hard bop. He was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, notably gospel music, African music, and Latin American music, and sometimes ventured into the soul jazz genre.
Seattle-born composer and pianist William Bolcom (b.1938), who entered into private composition studies at the University of Washington when he was just 11 years old, has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts and four Grammy awards, among many other honors. His works range from solo piano pieces to symphonies and opera, and in 2007 he was named “Composer of the Year” by Musical America magazine.
Grammy-nominated composer Christopher Theofanidis has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Charles Ives Fellowship, and currently has two opera commissions for the San Francisco and Houston Grand Opera companies. He teaches at the Yale School of Music, and is a former faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School.
David Springfield has had his compositions and arrangements performed by such artists as Branford Marsalis, John Abercrombie, Phil Woods, Allen Vizzuti and Joseph Alessi. He received a Downbeat magazine award for arranging and was a finalist in the 1996 International Thad Jones Competition, sponsored by the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra. He was the principal arranger for Klüvers Big Band and his works appear on nine recordings by the band. In addition to his work as a jazz arranger, Mr. Springfield has written for concert band, symphony orchestra, brass quintet and trombone choir. His music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe and is published by Kendor Music and Sierra Music Publications. Recent arrangements have been performed by trumpeter Byron Stripling with the Milwaukee, Houston and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.
A composer, percussionist and teacher at Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, PA), Patrick Long (b.1968) grew up in Annapolis, Maryland and received degrees in composition from Syracuse University (B.M.) and the Eastman School of Music (M.M., D.M.A.). He has completed over 80 premiered works for orchestra, band, chamber ensembles, soloists, young players, theatre and film. He is best known for his percussion music and for his works that combine live performers with fixed media or interactive electronics. His pieces have been performed in almost all 50 states and throughout Europe and Asia.
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