Brooke Pierson

During the last several years, my wife and I have created an evening ritual of playing cards and listening to music on spotify. Originally beginning with a station centered around Postmodern Jukebox, we transitioned to New Orleans Jazz and eventually to 1920s jazz style band music (both instrumental and also some of the great artists of the time). My wife had just discovered Josephine Baker and over the last 4 months we have spent much time with Baker’s music, as well as the musical style of other great artists such as Édith Piaf. As a music teacher, I also recently spent several years studying An American in Paris by George Gershwin as part of my instruction with the International Baccalaureate coursework. Now listening to the music of Baker and Piaf on a regular basis (among other French style jazz singers) I have come to appreciate just how well crafted the work by Gerswhin truly is. When approached to write another work I knew I wanted to pay homage to the time I’ve spent experiencing this great music; writing a work which infuses elements from both singers, Gerswhin, and my compositional language, seemed a great fit for wind ensemble.

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