I had mentioned in an earlier update that RamCorps from The University of Mobile had asked me to help out with some arranging for their performances on the Duck Commander Cruise. RamCorps is a high-impact visual brass and percussion ensemble. High energy is RIGHT! For the last night's finale on the cruise, they were asked to play God Bless the USA with Lee Greenwood. Their director, a friend of mine, Kenn Hughes [...]
When I first moved to Nashville, almost 21 years ago (January 1996), I moved here to 'do music'. In my mind, I knew what that meant. Music. Simple enough. But there are really a whole lot of facets to what I have had the opportunity to do throughout my musical career. After about 5 or so years of living up here, it became pretty clear that I was not moving back home. [...]
In my previous update I mentioned playing trumpet on the K-Love Cruise in the 'Double Sea Horns'. As a result of a conversation with one of our neighbors, Chad Mattson (Unspoken), we ended up playing with Unspoken on their brand new song 'Higher' for their concerts on the ship. That night after the concerts (2 sets), my wife Dana and I are walking down to get coffee with Chad and his wife [...]
I talked in a previous post about my experiences arranging music for the Duck Commander Cruise, RamCorps and Lee Greenwood. I 'officially' met a now dear friend, Mark Brannon, who is the CEO of Memphis Based travel company Premier. Mark is a great guy, and best of all...he's a trumpet player. (And a good one to boot!). Before that cruise had even set sail, we talked about horns on the K-Love Cruise. [...]
I had the opportunity January 16th to fly down to Panama City as the Panama City Pops Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Eddie Rackley, played my arrangement of Holy, Holy, Holy as the encore to their concert. The concert featured Grammy Award winning composer and artist Dick Tunney performing his Monkee's Concerto on the piano with the Panama City Pops Orchestra. His was the 'Hey Hey' and mine was the 'Holy [...]
VISUAL I've said this for years. When I am trying to learn something, I immediately go to YouTube to see if someone has made a video of how to do it (and someone usually has). I can try and read a manual, but if there aren't pretty pictures (diagrams), it's like pulling teeth to me. It is always easier when I can see it happen. And there is that inevitable 'aha' moment [...]
Back in high school (mid/late 80s), our assistant band director wrote an arrangement of Bruce Broughton's iconic score to 'Silverado' for the marching band. It was one of 'those' moments for me...a shaping moment. I loved the music and how it worked with the film. That was a pivotal moment for me in my love for film music. Fast forward to Monday, March 23rd this year. I scored (composed the music to) [...]
I wrote a horn arrangement for one of Jeff Slaughter's songs from a VBS collection he did with Brentwood-Benson Publishing. The next Christmas, he had this idea for a children's Christmas musical based around a penguin polar pet park. My friend, Jonathan Crumpton, VP of Brentwood-Benson, called and said, "We're doing this new musical with Jeff Slaughter and it needs to be big band and recorded live. You want to do it?" [...]
Most of my collaborations begin with, 'this friend of mine called'. A buddy of mine up in New York, Duke Guillaume created The Metropolitan Gospel Big Band that plays all around New York City. Over the years, Duke has had me arrange quite a number of songs for his big band. He called me in January of 2014 and told me he was recording his big band up in New York. We [...]
I have just finished up composing the score to a brand new feature movie that releases in the theaters March 23rd, 2015 called 'Four Blood Moons'. Based on the book by New York Times best-selling author, Pastor John Hagee, this movie was produced by Rick Eldridge (Bobby Jones:Stroke of Genius, The Ultimate Gift and The Ultimate Life). It was directed by Academy Award winning director, Kieth Merrill. It weaves gracefully between science, [...]
