flying colors with Randy Brecker on trumpet and Mike Mainieri on vibraphone

Arthur White, director

Sweet Baby Sam by Arthur White

Lakewood and Wayne by Ryan Erik Adamsons

Das Americas by Debora Gugrel, arr. Paulo Oliveira (MM 2015)

Coalescence by Michael Neu (current senior)

Closing Time by Ben Colagiovanni (current senior)

Ballad of Daniella IV by Ryan Erik Adamsons

Beatrice by Sam Rivers, arr. Wayne Coniglio

Megan's Dance by Arthur White

Flying Colours by Mike Mainieri, arr. Arthur White

 

Excerpt by Aarik Danielsen

“FLYING COLORS”

“Flying Colors” is “top to bottom ... the strongest record, musically, we’ve put out to date,” White said.  The album is the latest in a steady stream of releases under White; clearly, the perpetual musical motion both exhausts and satisfies the director.  “I’m not really much for sunshine — I spend every summer” at recording engineer “Pete Szkolka’s place,” White joked. “ ... Neither of us tans well, so we’d rather do a CD instead.”  As with most of the records, “Flying Colors” primarily revolves around student arrangements, which have grown stronger with each class.  “I think our CDs have been a reflection of the development of the program,” White said.  The album features multiple-Grammy winner Randy Brecker as well as Mainieri for a tune.

Bringing in respected collaborators gives White a chance to cast vision for his students, to help them see what the future could look like with enough luck and pluck. It “gives our students a view into the world-class window — how good can you be?” he said.  But this record also shows how good White’s students already are.  “We could do a CD without a guest artist, if we needed to,” he said. “We don’t have to have somebody to help us carry the weight anymore.”

See the full story here.