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American DancesPosted by: Charles Booker on July 29, 2006 Premier of 'American Dances'"American Dances" was commissioned by the U.S. Air Force Academy Band and was completed in February of 2006. The premiere took place on March 20, 2006 during The Academy Band's Spring Tour 2006. "American Dances" is an effort by the composer to play upon the boundaries separating classical, jazz, and popular music. The piece blends the sounds of "be-bop", classical motifs, Latin, and jazz-rock inflected rhythms separated by brief moments of tranquility. There are three movements:
This is a photo of Jared Spears, Lt. Colonel Steve Grimo and Chuck Booker at the Arkansas
Bandmaster's Conference July 29, 2006 just after the premier of my piece "American Dances"
and Spears' "Colorado Blue", both commissioned by the Academy Band. The U.S. Air Force
Academy Band under the baton of Lt. Colonel Grimo peformed both pieces at the convention flawlessly,
and with great energy and musicality. No two composers could have been prouder.
Sammy Nestico @ Texas Bandmaster's AssociationPosted by: Charles Booker on July 14, 2006
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Sammy Nestico looks over my "American Dances" recorded by the U.S. Air Force
Academy Band during the Texas Bandmaster's Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas
on July 24, 2006. The piece was premiered by the Academy Band under the direction of
LTC Steve Grimo, several days later at the Arkansas Bandmaster's Association conference
held in Fort Smith, Arkansas on July 29th. Sammy stopped off to visit with me at the
Southern Music Company booth for an hour. He made several complimentary comments about
my new piece as he listend to the recording and followed the score. Later we discussed
our careers in the military and found we had much in common both of us having two careers -
first in the military and later in the professional music business. We had a great time
discussing new pieces and our plans for the future. He is planning this year on recording
some of his music he wrote for Sarah Vaughn with the Air Force Academy's jazz band
"the Falconaires". Sammy is a great person and a great composer/arranger with
over 600 compositions and arrangements to his credit.