Legacy
Program Notes
an album by...
The Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble 40th Anniversary All-Star Alumni
R. Winston Morris, director
Personnel
The Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble All-Star Alumni
Euphoniums
- Cory Belvin (TTU '97-'03), U.S. Army Ground Forces Band
- Lloyd Bone (TTU '91-'95), Professor, Glenville State College
- Bryce Edwards (TTU '96-'01), U.S. Navy Band, Washington , DC
- Seth Fletcher (TTU '00-'03), Doctoral Assistant, UNC/Greensboro
- Carroll Gotcher (TTU '82-'88), Music Educator, Euphoniumist with " Euphouria"
- Joshua Hauser (TTU Faculty), Professor, Tennessee Tech University
- Atticus Hensley (TTTE Member '98-'99), Music Educator, Euphoniumist with " Euphouria"
- Ashley Sample (TTU '93-'98), Music Educator, South Granville High School , North Carolina
- Jimmie E. Self (TTU '70-'73), Professor, East Tennessee State University
- Kelly Thomas (TTU '93-'97), Professor, University of Arizona .
Tubas
- Scott Beaver (TTU '97-'03), United States Military Academy Band
- David T. Brown (TTU '89-'93), U.S. Army Band, Washington , DC
- Jason Byrnes (TTU '91-'95), Professor, University of Northern Colorado
- Gerald Cates (TTU '81-'85), United States Military Academy Band
- Mike Dunn (TTU '78-'83), Professor, University of Colorado
- Angelo Kortyka (TTU '98-'03), Professor, Xavier University , Cincinnati
- Tim Northcut (TTU '79-'83), Professor, University of Cincinnati
- Richard Perry (TTU '83-'87), Professor, University of Southern Mississippi
- David Porter (TTU '76-'80), U.S. Air Force Band (retired), Washington , DC
- Joe Skillen (TTU '87-'91), Professor, Louisiana State University
- John Visel (TTU '00-'05), Graduate Assistant, Indiana University
- Kenyon Wilson (TTU '88-'92), Professor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Percussion
- Eric Willie (TTU Faculty), Professor, Tennessee Tech University
- Paul Deatherage (TTU '01-'05), Free-Lance Percussionist, Middle Tennessee
Program
- Bassa Nòbile............................................................................. John Cheetham
Three Profiles................................................................................ Tony Plog
Commissioned by the Tennessee Tech University Fine Arts Foundation and Miraphone - Mr. P.
- The New Breed
- T.J.Bozo
- Pinnacle.................................................................................... Greg Danner
- Fasolt's Revenge.......................................................................... Adam Gorb
Commissioned by Tennessee Technological University with funds from Center Stage Events - Epitaph VI: Phoenix Rising (Coventry/Dresden)...................Martin Ellerby
- Basso Cantante..........................................................................Eric Ewazen
Refrains......................................................................................Gunther Schuller
Commissioned by Tennessee Technological University for the
Tennessee Tech University 40th Anniversary All-Star Alumni Tuba Ensemble.
Respectively dedicated by composer and ensemble to
Harvey G. Phillips, the greatest tuba artist on planet Earth. - Arabesque.
- Evensong.
- Somewhat Eccentric.
- Perpetuum Mobile
- Blues Odyssey...........................................................................David N. Baker
- Dynamo.................................................................................Aldo Rafael Forte
Recording Notes
The internationally acclaimed Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble celebrated its 40 th anniversary during the academic year 2006/2007. The ensemble was founded by its current director, R. Winston Morris in the fall of 1967. The TTU group is the most recorded ensemble of its kind in the world, has toured throughout the eastern half of the United States for 40 years, and is the only music group in the state of Tennessee to receive the Tennessee Board of Regents "TBR Academic Excellence and Quality Award." Since its inception in 1967, the TTU Tuba Ensemble has been responsible for the creation of hundreds of new compositions, has been listed on the Grammy Entry List for its recordings, and is the only tuba ensemble to have performed multiple concerts (seven) in New York 's famous Carnegie Recital Hall. The ensemble's greatest legacy, however, lies in the nurturing of dozens of professional music teachers and tuba/euphonium performers who actively teach and perform throughout the world and other members who have pursued and excelled in many other professions.
A number of activities took place during the 2006/2007 academic year in celebration of this unique history. Over 200 former members of the TTTE were invited back to the Tennessee Tech campus to bring their horns and participate in a 40th Anniversary Reunion celebration. And this special twenty-four member 40th Anniversary All-Star Alumni Ensemble was organized and met on the Tech campus to record and present world-premiere performances of nine major new compositions by David Baker, John Cheetham, Gregory Danner, Martin Ellerby, Eric Ewazen , Aldo Rafael Forte, Adam Gorb , Tony Plog, and Gunther Schuller that were commissioned specifically for this event. Additional performances were presented by the ensemble in Chicago , Washington and New York at the world famous recital hall at Carnegie Hall.
- R. Winston Morris, TTTE Director
In a review of the Carnegie Hall performance by David Chamberlain, Director,
Hora Decima Brass Ensemble, published in the Spring 2007 ITEA Journal it was stated:
On Sunday January 28 th , 2007, I attended a concert at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York that was billed as the “40th Anniversary Celebration of the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble,” directed by its founder, R. Winston Morris. I must admit that I had never before heard such a large group of tubas, and my expectations were fueled more by curiosity about this "novelty ensemble" than anything else. This was an "All Star Alumni Ensemble" chosen from among the hundreds or so students who have gone through the Tenn Tech program over the years: seasoned professional performers and educators, not just a college group. It also was not clear to me at first just what a landmark event it was (there would be nine world premiers). I got quite an education that afternoon! First of all, the performance was stunning in its musical impact, flawless in its execution, and of major importance in adding to the repertoire of music for tubas.
Of the nine composers represented on the program, four managed to attend the Carnegie program; Adam Gorb (who flew in from England for the performance), Gregory Danner, John Cheetham and Eric Ewazen. Ewazen shared his thoughts on the impact of this project with a memo to the conductor:
I want to congratulate you on a genuinely great concert in NYC this past Sunday! It was so spectacular, so beautifully performed, and each piece sounded like a million bucks. You and your performers brought the music to life with crystal clarity, energy galore, and an amazing sense of richness of tone, and beauty of line and harmony. Given the wide array of styles present from piece to piece (and this concert was really a catalogue of all the current styles available to composers from classic 12-tone to neo-romanticism to theatrical to jazz and fusion) you totally captured this wonderful variety. Persichetti always said that he thought being a composer in the late 20th century was the best time to be a composer, for this simple fact of all that variety. And, man-oh-man, did your concert illustrate that beautifully. Not only should this concert and ultimately CD be required for all low brass players to hear, it should be required of composers as well!
This special 40 th anniversary recording hereby presents in the same order as the performances nine new major compositions representing perhaps the single greatest contribution to the tuba/euphonium ensemble repertoire.
