Roger Aldridge, Composer
Jazz, Tango, Blues, New Music, Roots Music, and More
Think of my website as a virtual performance center where people from many countries can listen to this music. A variety of groups are performing, from solo guitar to a large jazz orchestra, and there are many kinds of music to explore.
Featured Music
Listening to the recordings with headphones is recommended.
Fanfare was inspired by Brazilian brass bands. It was written for music students at the Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland. This music is reasonably easy to play and has an exuberant spirit with samba rhythms churning under contemporary harmonic voicings. It is intended to be a short piece; however, the vamp at the end can be extended with a solo or collective improvisation. Score demo by David Arivett. The instrumentation used in the demo is four trumpets, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, trombone, tuba, piano, bass, drums, and percussion.
New Tango No. 3 is part of a series of tango-jazz compositions. Each one explores a particular quality of the tango. Number 3 is about attraction. In a way that I cannot explain, whenever I am in New York City, this music comes into my mind. Recorded by Amy Leonard, violin; Jeff Knoettner, keyboards; E. Shawn Qaissaunee, guitar; and Peter McCarthy, bass.
Appalachian Awakening expresses my love of the Appalachian Mountains. This is an unusual composition in how it combines bossa nova and fiddle music. Score demo by David Arivett. The instrumentation used in the demo is violin, alto flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon, piano, bass, and drums.
Shifting time funk! Connecticut Avenue SUVs expresses my disdain for contending with monster SUVs when driving in Washington, DC. This piece has expanded improvisation concepts for the soloist and the ensemble. Collective improvisation is used to sound like different kinds of music coming out of car windows in traffic. Recorded by Jason Shapiro, soprano saxophone; E. Shawn Qaissaunee, guitar; Brian Howell, bass; Skip Rohrich, drums; and David Arivett, horn section tracks. The instrumentation used in the demo is trumpet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, trombone, tuba, guitar, bass, and drums.
For more recordings, see A Sample Of My Music.
Out And About
Out And About has a series of blogs and videos that describe cutting-edge experiences I am having with qigong, acupuncture, and other kinds of energy work. These practices have higher-level connections with music and with the stars.
