A Tale of Two Bays is my second album of classical music for saxophone after the 2020 release of Beneath the Stars. It includes two of my original compositions - Homage to Georgia O'Keeffe and A Tale of Two Bays - along with works by Darius Milhaud, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Modest Mussorgsky, Gustav Mahler, Ralph Vaughan Williams and J. S. Bach. 

The album's title piece - A Tale of Two Bays - is a composition of two contrasting movements that reflect the moods of these great bodies of water. The first movement, "Cape Cod Bay", is majestic, serene and mysterious, which is how it often feels to me as I walk along its shore. The second movement, "Narragansett Bay", is bounding and jovial, depicting the place where my wife Lisa and I learned to sail our little 14-foot boat Ariel.

On the album I am playing soprano saxophone, alto saxophone and flute. Collaborating with me on this project are guitarist Dennis Costa (A Tale of Two Bays) and pianists Robert Finley (Rachmaninoff's Vocalise), Katsuhiro Oguri (Mussorgsky's Il Vecchio Castello), and Héctor Valls (Mahler's Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen).

Many thanks to the following who offered advice and guidance with this project: Dennis Costa, Jim Robitaille, Fred Fried, Lucy Banner, Mariellen Sears, Andy Roscoe, Joan Kirchner and Lisa Abbott.

More details about other album selections will follow in future posts. 

As always, thanks for listening!
Bruce

In 1980 when I was 25 I spent some time studying in private lessons with a wonderful Rhode Island-based musician, Hal Crook. Although he was only five years older than I was he was ages ahead of me in his musical understanding and ability. With Hal I focused on jazz arranging & composition as well as jazz improvisation. Lessons with him were always enlightening and I would leave with my head spinning, full of ideas and concepts. I would feel as though I was floating in air.

One of his assignments was for me to compose a song that included a type of  chord and scale that we were exploring. (For you musicians, it was the min7b5 chord with Locrian natural 9 scale.) The result was Free-Fall, a title that represents that "floating in air" feeling I would have after our lessons. In 1980 I arranged it for rhythm section (piano, bass and drums) with trumpet, tenor sax and trombone. For this 2026 release I rearranged the horns for flute, soprano sax and alto sax which I am playing. I also enlisted the help of my friend and pianist Fabiano de Castro from São Paulo, Brazil who contributes so much to this recording. 

Hal Crook has retired from performing but is writing novels, short stories and poetry. He recently told me "Bruce, I thought composing with notes was challenging. Words are so much more so!"  My thanks to him for providing me with a lifetime of inspiration!

Thanks for listening!
Bruce

Many thanks to pianist Fabiano de Castro for his contribution to this track. His album "Ímpares" was released last September. 
For more info on Hal Crook visit his website at halcrook.com. 

My composition Urban Wheels is based on an ostinato. In a musical context, "ostinato" is an Italian word used to describe a continuously repeated phrase or rhythm. It is derived from the Italian word for  "obstinate" meaning stubborn or determined.
 
​I grew up in the mill city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island and remember as a child going with my mom to pick up my father at the textile mill where he worked. The wheels of the machinery at the mill had their own noisy and stubborn ostinato that went non-stop day and night. My father's work with those relentless looms was very repetitive. But just as an ostinato in music creates a backbone of support for the composition, those mills provided my parents with an income that allowed my brothers and me to follow pathways to other possibilities. This song is an attempt to honor the repetitive work that they, like so many others, did to improve their lives and the lives of their children. 

As you listen, the bass and piano ostinato represents my parents, the melody riding over that backbone represents their children and grandchildren. 

Enjoy!
Bruce

Many thanks to guitarist Jim Robitaille for his contribution to this track. Visit Jim's website for info about his new album "Sonic". 

On a trip to Argentina in April 2023 my wife Lisa and I enjoyed watching tango dancers in Buenos Aires both on the street and in the theater. We even took an introductory lesson where I learned just how uncoordinated I can feel!

The sound of tango music continued to fill my mind as we left Buenos Aires and headed to the southern tip of South America to Tierra del Fuego. Exploring the vast beauty of Patagonia, spanning across Chile and Argentina, we were hopeful that we might have an opportunity to see penguins. But alas, it was not to be. The day before we arrived in Patagonia the last migrating colony started its journey north to Brazil for their winter. 

Back at home following the trip a melody kept creeping into my mind. To accompany the melody I was hearing the instruments of a tango orchestra (violin, cello, flute, piano, guitar, and the accordion-like bandoneon). Of course, I also heard saxophone. And I decided to add drums as well. Tango of the Penguins was born. Let's dance! 

Happy Spring!
Bruce

Blue roses are often used to symbolize mystery or the unattainable, since they do not exist in nature.
  
I've been working on my new album, Blue Rose, for a couple years now. At times its completion seemed as elusive to me as the title flower. But at long last it has arrived, just in time to usher in 2026!

Blue Rose is an album of eight jazz-flavored original compositions. Some were written as recently as 2024, some as long ago as 1980. Some were inspired by people I know, some by places I've lived and visited. Some just appeared of their own volition. All are products of a joyful musical journey full of exploring, experimenting, discovering and learning.

A couple of special guests appear on a few tracks. Many thanks to guitarist Jim Robitaille (Urban Wheels, July) and pianist Fabiano de Castro (Free-Fall) for their stellar musical contributions. 

More details about individual tracks will follow in future posts. In the meantime, wishing you all a healthy 2026!

As always, thanks for listening!
Bruce

Old melodies often get recycled and reused with new lyrics. Such was the case when, in 1865, William Dix wrote the lyrics of "What Child Is This?" and set them to the melody of "Greensleeves", a popular song from the 1500s. In its new life as a carol the tune continues to this day as a holiday favorite.

It's a simple and lovely melody which has been arranged and recorded by countless artists. In 1997 our group CommonGround released the album "Do You Hear What I Hear?" featuring an arrangement of "What Child Is This?" by our guitarist Peter Calo. 

After a jazz flavored intro the arrangement continues with Peter's solo guitar reminding us of the song's Elizabethan beginnings. Following the guitar solo, the entrance of the strings provides an orchestral vision for the tune. Then, for the flute solo (starting at 2:30) Peter inventively chose to abandon the Elizabethan era and the song's original 6/8 time signature to take a brief jazz journey in 5/4. I love how Peter was able to inject a modern perspective into this 400-year-old melody before returning us gently back to something closer to its origins.

If history is any indication there will be yet more renditions of what was published in 1580 as "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves", now simply referred to as "Greensleeves".

Happy Holidays everyone!

In the fall of 2015 I contacted two Cape Cod-based musicians I had long admired - pianist Lucy Banner and flutist Mariellen Sears - to see if they might be interested in meeting for a session to play some classical repertoire. A date was set, and at the end of that very exciting first session Lucy and Mariellen asked if we were all available to meet the following week. Trio Vivo was born! For the next seven years we continued to rehearse weekly and to perform regularly in concert. We described our style as "Classical Music by an Uncommon Ensemble".

In October 2018 we released a recording entitled "Uncommon" featuring music we had been performing in our concerts. 

Compared to other instruments there is not a lot of classical music composed for saxophone. To alleviate that we saxophonists take music that has been composed for other instruments - such as oboe, violin, viola, cello, French horn - and adapt it for saxophone. For example, the first three tracks on the album, Amuse-bouches by Gary Schocker, is composed for flute, oboe and piano. I am playing the oboe part on soprano saxophone.

The lively and uplifting song "Samba de Orfeu" has long been a favorite of mine to play. It was composed by Luiz Bonfá for the 1959 film Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus). Set in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval, the film is a retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. 
 
The film Orfeu Negro introduced the music of Brazil, particularly samba and bossa nova, to a wider audience. Along with Luiz Bonfá it also featured music composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. (Although it's not part of the film's music, most people will know Jobim as the composer of "The Girl from Ipanema".) Both Bonfá and Jobim were young composers in their 30's at the time and went on to achieve worldwide renown. 

Guitarist Jim Robitaille and I recorded "Samba de Orfeu" for our duo album This Masquerade with Jim on guitar and yours truly on flute. 

As always, thanks for listening!

Here on Cape Cod we love to go boating on Pleasant Bay in Orleans. Each April, one of our favorite signs of spring is the return of ospreys that have migrated from southern climates. These magnificent birds are wonderful to watch as they hunt for fish, soaring in the sky on a six-foot wingspan, then diving down to the water to grab their prey. 
Now it's late August. Their young have been raised and they are ready to migrate south again. But we will look forward to their return next spring and a summer filled with their majestic beauty.
It was that beauty that inspired my composition "Osprey". "Osprey" began with the creation of the piano part. Next, I improvised a melody on my Native American style flute, then added synthesizer strings for the second half. At the end, a touch of osprey call fading into the distance.

Learn more about Ospreys by visiting the Massachusetts Audubon Society website. 

"Dolce far niente" is an Italian phrase that translates to "the sweetness of doing nothing" or "sweet idleness". I first learned the phrase from my brother Arnie and sister-in-law Marie who is of Italian heritage. It describes a state of relaxed enjoyment and appreciation of leisure. It's not about being lazy, but rather about savoring and finding contentment in the present moment. 
My wife Lisa and I had a full dose of "dolce far niente" this past March in Italy where we savored the simple opportunity to rest, reflect and recharge. 
In my composition "Dolce Far Niente" I try to capture this simplicity. Just a few chords with melody played on alto saxophone, an accordion included to add some Italian seasoning.
I hope you'll enjoy three minutes of "sweet idleness" as you take a listen!