Smoke (2009)
three performance options:
1. solo alto saxophone and stereo playback
2. solo alto saxophone plus sax ensemble (solo plus 9 altos, 1 optional bari)
3. Any combination of live parts above plus stereo playback (email me for details)
Commissioned by Jonathan Nichol

I composed this work at the same time I discovered the iconic television series Mad Men. Set in the 1960’s New York advertising world, in seemingly every scene the liquor flows while the haze of cigarette smoke hangs in the air. In Smoke the soloist first introduces material that is then taken over by the other voices. The result is a slow moving, hazy texture in which the line between what is live and what isn't is often blurred. The piece was commissioned by Jonathan Nichol and premiered by him at the 2010 North American Saxophone Conference.