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I - Contemporary Classical Composer
A - Currently working on:
B - Recently completed:
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“Penderecki Funk” (working title) a dance suite for Virtual
percussion.
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The “Urban Counterpoint” Piano Series
Urban
Counterpoint Manifesto
The curse of pop music and
jazz is that they are too predictable. Ideally art music should demand
unpredictability.
In these piano works, the
musical language used is in the vernacular (which is the language of pop
music and jazz).
Unpredictability is
introduced into this setting through a rampaging polyphonic/polymetric
texture.
Because of the importing of
unpredictability into the mix, the listener is forced to think about the
musical relationships. What would ordinarily have been a vernacular
pop/jazz situation is now replaced by a serious/art music one. This
replacement is what the 29 short piano works (Vols.1-4) and the longer
Classical Soul and Three Chaconnes in Blue (Vol. 5) address.
The 29 are stand-alone
pieces. A unifying factor can be found in the effect these works give
of Tatum-like improvisation in a contrapuntal situation.
Volume 1-Blues
1. Cell Fone Blues
2. Zone Blue
3. The Old School
4. Vacant Lot
Blues
5. Child’s Play
6. Secret Society
7. Stefin’ Fetchit
Volume2 - Gospel/Soul
8.
Sunday School
9.
Church Boys
10. Phunky Phrogs Rag
11. Double Jointed
12. Backyard View
13. Engine Of Mercy
14. Library Card
15. The Four Corners
Volume 3 - Jazz
16. Bobbing And Weaving
17. Jumping Jitney
18. Lucky Charms
19. Hip Hop Scotch
20. Satellite Dish
21. Heat Seeking Missile
22. Roller Blades
Volume 4 - Film
23.
Playground Dreams
24.
Inner Voices
25.
Rooftop Parking Lot
26.
Up Escalators
27.
Neon Gardens
28.
Higher Level
29.
Concrete Curtains
Volume 5 – Extended
Works
30. Three Chaconnes In Blue
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First Chaconne
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Second Chaconne
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Third Chaconne
31. Classical Soul
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First Movement
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Second Movement
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Third Movement
C-Selected Radio Broadcasts and Performances:
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January 16,1989,
Magnetic Variations, performed by Cal Arts 20th Century Players,
William Powell, clarinet soloist. George Iannou conductor. Broadcast
by NPR nationwide and into 22 foreign countries.
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June 1987-1994, Piece
For Chamber Orchestra and Brass Quintet, repeatedly played from
recordings, on WNYC-FM by John Schaefer and Tim Page.
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1984-1994, Piece For
Chamber Orchestra, Brass Quintet, and many other works broadcast
about twice a year on KPFK-FM Los Angeles on Music Of The Americas,
hosted by Jeanne Pool.
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February 1994, World
Premiere Of Arion’s Song, (Woodwind Quintet #2) by The Woodhall
Players in the Lincoln Center Library NYC.
D-Recordings
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Urban Classical-The Music Of Ed Bland-This CD, recently released by
Cambria Records, contains seventy minutes of Bland’s chamber music.
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Danilo Lozano, Flauta & Althea Waites, Piano; SERIE INBA-SACM, a
recording produced and released by the Mexican Government. Works on
the CD are by Heras, Mabarak, Marquez, Bland, and Furman.
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Black Diamonds-Piano Music By African-American Composers. (Cambria
Records) Works on the CD are by Price, Bonds, Still, and Bland.
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Dancing Through The Walls -a fifty-minute work for flute and Virtual
Percussion Ensemble released on Delos International Records The
flautist is Danilo Lozano.
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“Legacy” Lecolion Washington Bassoonist Works For Bassoon By
African American Composers on Troy Records
II - Some Film & Television Credits
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Composer-Orchestrator -
A RAISIN IN THE SUN - 1989 American Playhouse Presentation, PBS
Television Network
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Orchestrator - A
SOLDIER’S STORY, Columbia Pictures-1984 Norman Jewison/Ron Schwary,
Producers/Norman Jewison, Director
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Composer-Orchestrator -
THE HOUSE OF DIES DREAR-1985 Two Hour television special, on the
Disney Channel
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Musical Director-TOO FAR
TO G0, Chiz Schultz, Producer NBC MOVIE OF THE WEEK-1980 Zoetrope
Films, Francis Ford Coppola Feature Film
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Composer-Musical
Director - JT, ABC-TV Viacom (Pilot) Chiz Schultz, Producer
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Composer-Musical
Director-Orchestrator-Arranger- GANJA AND HESS, Feature Film;
Kelly-Jordan Productions, Chiz Shultz, Producer. Critics Choice
Cannes Film Festival, 1973
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Composer-Musical
Director-Additional Dialogue - THE COOL WORLD, Fred Wiseman &
Shirley Clark, Cannes Film Festival Winner 1964
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Composer-Musical
Director - REALLY THE COUNTRY BLUES CBS-TV CAMERA III, Merrill
Brockway, Producer, 1968
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Composer-Musical
Director - LIFE IN A TROPICAL FOREST Time-Life Films, Lothar Wolff,
Producer, 1972
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Composer of music for
documentaries, Industrial and educational films for IBM, Smithsonian
Institution, Prentiss Hall and others.
III - Record Industry
1974-1978
- Executive Producer for Vanguard Records, New York City
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Headed the A & R
Department.
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Produced and /or
supervised the production of 40 albums for the company.
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In charge of
acquisitions for the company.
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Conducted negotiations,
contractual and otherwise, with artists, lawyers, managers,
publishers and other record companies regarding licensing
rights.
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Conducted budgeting
control on departmental projects.
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Developed jazz and
gospel lines for the company.
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Two productions received
Grammy nominations.
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Chose and occasionally
wrote material to be recorded.
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Decided which artists
should receive contracts from the company.
1961-1994
- Record Industry Freelance Work
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Freelance composer,
producer, musical director, and musical arranger for CBS, ABC, and
NBC Television Networks; for Columbia, RCA, Epic, GM, Vanguard,
Audio Fidelity, Milestones, Delos and United Artists Records for
artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Maya Angelou, Lionel Hampton,
Country Joe and the Fish, George Benson, Al Hirt, The Chamber
Brothers, Clark Terry, James Moody, King Harvest, Richie Havens,
Elvin Jones, Big Mama Thornton, and many others.
IV - Teaching Experience
Composer
in Residence
Lecturer - California State
University Pomona. Taught course in Music Business
Visiting Lecturer - Clinic
on Music as Politics and Business at the following colleges and
universities.
Bennington College,
Bennington, VT
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Virginia
Union University, Richmond VA
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Millersville
College, Lancaster, PA
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Wisconsin
Conservatory Of Music, Milwaukee
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Cal State
University /Fullerton
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University
Of Rhode Island
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Baruch
College of New York City
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Montgomery
College, Baltimore, Maryland
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University
of California /San Diego
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SUNY Old
Westbury, Long Island, NY
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New School
for Social Research, New York, NY
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Long Island
University, Brooklyn Campus
V - Concert Producer
1968 - 1975 - Produced
more than 100 concerts for the Museum of Modern Art in New York
City:
1973-1974 - Produced 40 concerts for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s
Blues & Jazz Series
VI - Honors
1979-1981 - Presidential
Commissioner on the Commission for the White House Record Library.
One
of six commissioners chosen from the record industry to update the
Presidential Record Library.
1988 - Panelist, National
Endowment of the Arts Recording Panel
1989 - Panelist, National
Endowment of the Arts Recording Panel
VII-Musical Education
Musical career began in
Jazz. Played sax and clarinet. Studied composition privately with
composer John Becker in Chicago. Studied musicology and philosophy at
the University of Chicago.
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