I have had the pleasure of working closely with saxophonist Jonathan Yanik and percussionist Joseph Gonzalez over many years, and I couldn’t be more proud to collaborate with such great friends and artists for this work. The idea formed when I heard Jon casually talking about commissioning works that were inspired in some way by the issue of climate change and environmentalism. Seeing an opportunity, I immediately (and shamelessly) volunteered to write a piece. I had recently started some sketches for marimba and used some of that as the foundation. Round Trip takes its inspiration from the phenomenon known as the global conveyor belt, a massive system of undersea currents that cycle all of the world ocean’s waters over a 1,600-year period. This system controls migration patterns and food distribution, regulates temperature, and makes it possible for humans to travel vast distances with predictable currents (teh Gulf Stream is a well-known example). Like the conveyor belt, Round Trip uses a continuous stream of material and morphs through a series of connecting episodes, ultimately arriving back where we started.

Round Trip was premiered by Jonathan and Joseph on January 17th, 2023 at the International Saxophone Symposium in Washigton, DC.

Cover Art: “Abstract Waves” by Prawny is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. All images on freeimageslive.co.uk are free to use on websites, printed designs or electronic media. You may not re-distribute these images for reuse as stock photos.