Midnight Travels

The mission of Midnight Travels is to capture the musical style, character and driving rhythms that set the premise for the genre of spy films and detective television shows that were so popular in the 1960s and 70s. Should you choose to accept it, this work is intended for college jazz band and/or professional ensemble but does not disavow other musical agents. Midnight Travels is a highly chromatic work that features an intense bassline ostinato driven by tritones, a sax solo written with angular intervals, and a chord structure—“spy chords”—derivative of the minMaj9 chord found in John Barry's arrangement of Monty Norman’s notable James Bond theme. It closes with a shout chorus (without chaos) and horn tutti that will have the band and audience excited for the next assignment. Midnight Travels made its debut as a studio recital piece, tying for first place at the annual Ohio University’s composition contest, Composition Slam. Missed it by that much!