Cuban Jazz Recording: Bugs and Gas
Donation protected
The music of Cuba shares its roots with American jazz, both emerging from cultural melting puts filled with African and European ingredients. Through the1950s, Cuban musicians and American jazz musicians routinely worked together, exchanging ideas and influences. With thawing relations between the two countries, these exchanges may soon become commonplace again.
You have an opportunity to be part of a unique and historic project to record an original jazz composition by Don Bowyer in Cuba, with a band made up of the best professional musicians in Havana. This is a legal project, sponsored as a People-to-People Exchange by Parma Recordings.
Parma Recordings specializes in contemporary classical and jazz music. Earlier this year, Parma invited composers to submit compositions for a recording project in Cuba, ultimately selecting eight pieces (4%) out of more than 200 submissions. I am honored to report that my composition "Bugs and Gas" was among those selected for this special project.
Bugs and Gas is composed for jazz big band.* The original version (in the video above) was in a double-time swing style. For this project, it is being transformed into a Latin jazz style to take advantage of the outstanding musicians in Cuba.
Don with the band Son al Son in Havana during a previous study trip to the island in 2002.
As the recording will be owned by the composer, with the record company serving as facilitator and distributor, the costs for the recording fall to the composer.
For this unique opportunity, the total recording cost is $15,000. This fundraising project, however, has a more realistic goal of $7,500. This will be one of the first legal musical collaborations between the United States and Cuba in more than 50 years. If you would like to be part of this historic opportunity, please check out the Reward Levels below and consider joining the project.
The recording will initially be released as a single track for digital download. Some months later, it will be included on a Parma Recordings CD along with music by other composers. This CD will be distributed by Naxos, with a full marketing campaign by Parma Recordings.
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* Bugs and Gas was originally composed at the request of Cil Spina, as a dedication to her husband, Don, who spent his career decommissioning biological and chemical weapons (AKA "bugs and gas"). Thanks, Cil!
Who is Don Bowyer?
Don Bowyer is Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Arkansas State University (Note: This is an independent project, not affiliated with the university). Having previously taught at every level from kindergarten through university in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Sweden, Bowyer received his Doctor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado, Master of Arts from California State University-Northridge, and Bachelor of Arts from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Active in the fields of composition, music technology, and performance, Bowyer has published more than 60 pieces of music, developed an educational computer program that has been used in at least 120 countries, and has performed as a trombonist in 40 different countries. Among other performing credits, he spent five years playing trombone on eleven cruise ships in the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska. The first ten didn’t sink. (See donbowyer.com/aground for an account of the eleventh.)
Bowyer and his wife have also served as foster parents, having provided a home to eighteen foster children between 2003 and 2010.
You have an opportunity to be part of a unique and historic project to record an original jazz composition by Don Bowyer in Cuba, with a band made up of the best professional musicians in Havana. This is a legal project, sponsored as a People-to-People Exchange by Parma Recordings.
Parma Recordings specializes in contemporary classical and jazz music. Earlier this year, Parma invited composers to submit compositions for a recording project in Cuba, ultimately selecting eight pieces (4%) out of more than 200 submissions. I am honored to report that my composition "Bugs and Gas" was among those selected for this special project.
Bugs and Gas is composed for jazz big band.* The original version (in the video above) was in a double-time swing style. For this project, it is being transformed into a Latin jazz style to take advantage of the outstanding musicians in Cuba.
Don with the band Son al Son in Havana during a previous study trip to the island in 2002.As the recording will be owned by the composer, with the record company serving as facilitator and distributor, the costs for the recording fall to the composer.
For this unique opportunity, the total recording cost is $15,000. This fundraising project, however, has a more realistic goal of $7,500. This will be one of the first legal musical collaborations between the United States and Cuba in more than 50 years. If you would like to be part of this historic opportunity, please check out the Reward Levels below and consider joining the project.
The recording will initially be released as a single track for digital download. Some months later, it will be included on a Parma Recordings CD along with music by other composers. This CD will be distributed by Naxos, with a full marketing campaign by Parma Recordings.
___________________________
* Bugs and Gas was originally composed at the request of Cil Spina, as a dedication to her husband, Don, who spent his career decommissioning biological and chemical weapons (AKA "bugs and gas"). Thanks, Cil!
Who is Don Bowyer?
Don Bowyer is Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Arkansas State University (Note: This is an independent project, not affiliated with the university). Having previously taught at every level from kindergarten through university in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Sweden, Bowyer received his Doctor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado, Master of Arts from California State University-Northridge, and Bachelor of Arts from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Active in the fields of composition, music technology, and performance, Bowyer has published more than 60 pieces of music, developed an educational computer program that has been used in at least 120 countries, and has performed as a trombonist in 40 different countries. Among other performing credits, he spent five years playing trombone on eleven cruise ships in the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska. The first ten didn’t sink. (See donbowyer.com/aground for an account of the eleventh.)
Bowyer and his wife have also served as foster parents, having provided a home to eighteen foster children between 2003 and 2010.
Organizer
Don Bowyer
Organizer
Jonesboro, AR
