(Note: this work was previously published by Gold Branch Music, which has since gone out of business and returned copyright to me.)
Premiered by the Liberace Brass Quintet of the University of Central Oklahoma at the 2004 National Conference of the Society of Composers, Inc.
Rondo Ostinato was written for a former theory student of mine, Elisa Curren, while she was completing an MM in trumpet performance at Illinois State University. Her trumpet teacher there, Amy Gilreath Major, was my old friend and nemesis from high school All-State days in east Tennessee. Amy and I studied with the same teacher, Karl Zimmerman, whom we all called “Z” -- hence the subtitle. This work is dedicated to his memory as “trumpeter, teacher, mentor extraordinaire.” Z’s interests as a teacher and performer spanned the entire history of the trumpet, but he had a soft spot in his heart for Harry James, as I hope this piece does.
