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Grammy-Winning Composer Maria Schneider Releases "Sky Blue" Available Only at MariaSchneider.com

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"...among the most arresting, accomplished music of the new century." --THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

“...she puts together stories that speak with the clarity of Ernest Hemingway and the musical grace of Aaron Copland." --PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE

“It seemed impossible for Schneider to top her Grammy-winning Concert in the Garden, but she's done just that with Sky Blue. She has elevated her music to a seemingly impossible height." --ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM

When composer/orchestra leader Maria Schneider won a Grammy for 2004's acclaimed Concert in the Garden -- the first recording ever to win such an award without in-store distribution -- Maria's fans started writing in to say how proud they felt. This was not surprising, as it was her fans that made the recording possible via her ArtistShare- powered website, where “the fans make it happen."

On the heels of that resounding success comes Sky Blue, again powered by ArtistShare and available exclusively on her personal website.

With this new project Schneider continues to expand and deepen her relationship with her fans, finding that in addition to help with funding her recordings, they also fuel her creativity. She says, “It made me so happy that they shared in the success of Concert in the Garden and understood how significant they are in the production of my music. I could not continue making recordings without their participation." At a time when CDs are sold with sparse packaging to cut costs, Schneider chooses the opposite direction, echoing on paper the online ArtistShare experience by creating elegant packaging that includes two booklets: one documenting the making of this recording and the other containing her extensive liner notes punctuated by little examples of her first sketches. It is truly a gift to her fans.

First and foremost Maria Schneider is a composer, and one who constantly pushes the boundaries of jazz. Always in-demand as a bandleader, she tours the world conducting bands in full-length concerts of her music. But her first love is composing new music for her own band to perform because, when she composes, it is her musicians who she hears inside her head. More than half of her orchestra members have been with her since the Maria Schneider Orchestra was formed in 1993. Their mutual admiration, coupled with the intimacy that time brings, is evident throughout.

Four of the five compositions on Sky Blue were commissioned works, unique in that they all came from presenters requesting works for her own orchestra to be premiered at their concert halls. “It's my favorite way to be commissioned," Schneider says. “My own musicians are the ones I know best. And what I found is that I felt compelled to really feature them." Four of the pieces prominently display a soloist against a very evocative backdrop. These pieces also grew out of very personal experiences. “Each of these pieces began when I cast out a few exploratory tones in search of meaningful sound," she says. “Given a little gestation time, the seeds of each piece started to pop, revealing something very personal. I found myself either on a journey back in time or deep inside myself--in both cases feeling like I was uncovering much more than I had from the original experience. Experiences transmuted into sound, and in two cases, actually became sonic stories."

The first commission came from Hunter College, in New York City, where the Maria Schneider Orchestra played a series of four concerts at The Kaye Playhouse in 2004. Schneider wrote “Sky Blue" in memory of a close friend who passed away during the period she wrote this piece. It is one of many compositions that illustrate the universality of Schneider's music. “When we play concerts, people really seem to relate to this piece," she explains. “That, to me, is very interesting, because it was written from such a personal place. But I think what's often the case is that what's most personal can also be what is most universal. And [saxophonist] Steve Wilson always brings the right sentiment to the music. He's intelligent and expressive."

The second premiere came early in 2006 when five presenters in the northeast joined together to commission a new work and a string of five concerts. This funding from the Flynn Theatre (Burlington, VT); Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH); Penn State University (University Park, PA); The Music Hall (Portsmouth, NH); and the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA); made possible “The Pretty Road." The composition itself recalls a hill from where, at night, Schneider could admire all the sparkling lights of her hometown in Minnesota. The piece features Ingrid Jensen both acoustically on fluegelhorn and on trumpet with electronic effects, to create the feeling of memory. “These windows open to bathe us in surreal memories when Ingrid's solo arrives at the crest of 'The Pretty Road' as she admires her town. I say her town, because hopefully the memories evoked are not only mine, but all of ours--the kind of memories that often season the mundane with a sprinkle of magic, and transform simplicity and even bleakness into richness." So writes Schneider in her intensely personal liner notes that illuminate both her process and the music itself (although she says that her music is almost impossible to describe). Again, universality is the bridge.

Not only are her sonic stories universal in theme, Schneider's influences are global. World travel has enabled her to absorb other cultures through their music as it touches her, broadening her approach to sound. Schneider never sets out to write with a particular cultural palette, but influences frequently emerge. Such was the case when at work on her third commission, this one from Esa-Pekka Salonen, Dianne Reeves and the LA Philharmonic Association. “Aires de Lando," which premiered at Frank Gehry's celebrated Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, features the virtuosic clarinet of Scott Robinson and the unique rhythms of Peruvian lando; a rhythmically-layered form of music that Schneider further developed by adding multi-meters to the mix. She explains: “Rhythms came to me in all sorts of odd meters: 5/4 to 4/4 and 3/8. Soon I realized that the 12/8- ish polyrhythms of lando worked beautifully on the top of everything. It was very exciting to discover that. And the melody I heard over all of these rhythms was undeniably for clarinet, but almost impossibly difficult to play. Although I paid little attention to the difficulty, knowing full well that Scott Robinson would somehow make it not only possible, but extraordinary."

The fourth and most recent invitation to write new music came from Peter Sellars, who produced the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, a modern Mozart Festival (with not one note of Mozart) that commissioned numerous new works: compositions, operas, films and more. “Cerulean Skies" is inspired by Schneider's love of birds and the song's compositional form mirrors avian migration; at times, it sounds as if you're in a forest with birds singing from all directions. “For someone who has never experienced birding in May, it might be hard to imagine how spectacular the arrival of migratory birds can be -- especially in a city park," she reasons. “But, in Spring, early in the morning and deep in the ramble, you can easily be transported to a forest far from humanity. And the concentration of species is so deep and the sights so lovely, there's just no way to fully describe it. I guess the wish to do so brought about this piece." This extensive work, 22- minutes in length, premiered at the renowned Austrian Festival in December 2006 while the band was on a European tour of five countries. It also gave Schneider the opportunity to showcase Donny McCaslin on tenor (his solo on 'Bulera, Sole y Rumba,' from Concert in the Garden garnered him a Grammy nomination); Charles Pillow on alto; Gary Versace on accordion; and a stellar rhythm section with pianist Frank Kimbrough, guitarist Ben Monder and bassist Jay Anderson. The only work not commissioned on Sky Blue is “Rich's Piece." It's a feature for [tenor saxophonist and Maria Schneider Orchestra stalwart] Rich Perry. In her liner notes Maria writes, “The first phrase of [Rich's Piece] came to me not as notes, but as sounds--the sound of Rich Perry. The music asked to be nothing other than a meditation--the chance to ponder the beauty of sound, in particular, Rich's sound, and the orchestra would just cloak him in a sort-of sonic robe." Although they are not all fortunate enough to have a composition named for them, all of Maria's music can be said to do that for her players. Schneider explains: “I write for them. It gives me great pleasure to make people sound their best. And, by the same token, they show me in the best possible light." These are people who have spent many years working together. With time, the synergy in the music only gets deeper. And Maria becomes more and more attuned to their voices with each passing year. Working together, in unison, they bring her expansive interior world to life, through sound.

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