(8 Brass, alto sax doubles on soprano) Uptempo Swing, q-240. This exciting piece explores changes from stability to instability and back to stability again. Quick, explosive motifs in the beginning of the piece give way to a developing ocatonic melody. A lush trombone solo out of time gives way to percolating backgrounds that build over time. Solo space for tenor sax comes next with a much more aggressive character. The piece ends with solo contemplative piano drawn from ideas found earlier in the piece.

View all charts by Dan Cavanagh

DAN CAVANAGH is a pianist and composer who graduate magna cum laude from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN with a Bachelor of Music degree in Theory/Composition. He held a position at Coda Music Technology (makers of Finale music notation software) and then moved to Eugene, Oregon to become a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon. There he earned a master's degree in Jazz Studies--Composition/Arranging while studying with jazz composer and arranger, Steve Owen. In addition to directing the University of Oregon Jazz Lab Band III, he directed small jazz ensembles and taught classes in jazz improvisation, jazz theory, and jazz history. He was awarded Outstanding Graduate Student in Jazz Studies in his graduating class; and has won several compositoin awards including Collegiate Composer of the Year in 2000 from the Minnesota Music Educators' Association. Recently, he received commissions from Hill Murray High School, the White Bear Lake Community Theatre, Sisters High School and the University of Oregon. Dan currently teaches at East Metro Music Academy in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, directs the Dan Cavanagh Big Band and plays in various groups around the Twin Cities. His music is currently pubished by UNC Jazz Press.