BRAD EDWARDS

• Brad Edwards: Five American Folksong Sketches

[ * * * ½ ] “Trombone and …. is a unique CD collection of duets for trombone and voice, marimba, horn, saxophone and trumpet… Trombonist Brad Edwards is an accomplished musician… The performances are all excellent, and the pairings with other instruments, particularly the marimba are quite interesting. The recording is fine… The stereo separation is good, and the sound is quite natural, so no complaints on that score… This collection is engaging and enough off the well trodden path to be interesting rather than simply diverting… Edwards is a skilled brass player, and he’s put together a program of interest… Trombone and … is worth a listen for the quality of the playing, and the recording.”
Mel Martin, Audiophile Audition [January 2014]
With a style that has been variously described as “passionate,” “fiercely vigorous,” and even “humorous,” Brad Edwards has appeared as a soloist before audiences around the country. His solo credits include radio and television broadcasts, premieres of new music, guest recitals at colleges and regional workshops and concertos with student and professional orchestras and wind ensembles. He was a featured soloist and recitalist with the United States Army Band at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C. As a member of the United States Air Force Concert Band there, he was twice featured as a soloist.

Edwards has performed with the Baltimore Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Charleston Symphony,
Charlotte Symphony Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, Baltimore Opera Orchestra, the brass choir of the National Symphony, and the 2011 Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. As a composer, he has published Blue Wolf, Four Impromptus for Low Bone Alone, and Five American Folk Song Sketches (featured on this recording) for horn and trombone duet. He has also published a number of books, including Introductory Studies in Tenor and Alto Clef and Lip Slurs [Ensemble Publications] and Lip Slur Melodies, Simply Singing for Winds and the Trombone Craft series [self-published].

Edwards teaches trombone at the University of South Carolina and is currently Principal Trombonist of Symphony Orchestra Augusta and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Previously, he taught at the University of Northern Iowa and played principal trombone in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. Edwards holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music and Hartt School of Music. His primary teachers have included Jim Olin, Tony
Chipurn, Ronald Borror and Henry Schmidt, and has also studied with Arnold Jacobs, Dave Fedderly
and Milt Stevens. He has shared the stage with such diverse artists as Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Olivia Newton John, Wynona Judd, the Gatlin Brothers, Robert Merrill, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Roger Daltry.

Karl Kroeger studied at the University of Louisville and University of Illinois with George Perle and Gordon Binkerd, and at Brown University. He was a professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 1982 to 1999. His awards include the Ostwald prize from the American Bandmasters Association, the Rita Soslund String Quartet prize, and several awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Tres Psalmi Davidis was composed for Jeff Reynolds and his wife Jeanne, who gave the first performance of the work in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1981.

Clarence Barber taught in public schools in Ohio for more than 31 years, including 21 years with the Midview Local Schools in Grafton. Currently the managing editor of LudwigMasters Publications, he also serves on the adjunct faculty at the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music in Ohio. A graduate of Kent State University, he has also done post-graduate work at Kent State and the University of Akron. Barber studied composition with Walter Watson and Ralph Turek and percussion with Larry Snider, Michael Rosen and James Adkins. Impulsions was written for Brad Edwards and Scott Herring.

Inez McComas received degrees from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (DMA), University of Michigan (MM) and Florida Southern College (BM). Her compositions have been performed internationally, including at numerous universities, the World Saxophone Congress, concert:nova and the Cincinnati Ballet, the MusicX Festival, the Ottawa New Music Creators and
Songs for the Cure. She currently teaches at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. Composed
for Brad Edwards and Cliff Leaman, Descending into Light is inspired by the fleeting impressions of a
beautiful night view of the Earth seen from above. McComas’ music contains a robust sense of melody and is often blended with an array of media, including video, recorded sound, theater and dance.

Gordon (Dick) Goodwin has composed in virtually every idiom, from jingle to jazz band and
opera to orchestra, and is also active as a jazz performer and recording producer. Dr. Goodwin is
Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina where he taught composition,
theory and directed the orchestra. A Yamaha artist, he was the first recipient of the Elizabeth O’Neill
Verner Individual Artist Award, which is the highest honor given in the arts by the State of South
Carolina. Footprints was composed for Brad Edwards and James Ackley.
KARL KROEGER (b.1932)
TRES PSALMI DAVIDIS (1979)
Psalmus I
Psalmus XXII
Psalmus XCIX
TINA MILHORN STALLARD soprano

CLARENCE BARBER (b.1951)
4 IMPULSIONS (2007)
SCOTT HERRING marimba

BRAD EDWARDS (b.1963)
FIVE AMERICAN FOLKSONG SKETCHES (2012)
I. Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
II. Soldier Boy
III. Shenandoah
IV. All the Pretty Little Horses
V. Dunderbeck
MARTHA MUNDINGER EDWARDS horn

INEZ McCOMAS (b.1977)
DESCENDING INTO LIGHT (2012)
I. As I fly above the ground at night
II. My eyes see lights upon the ground. As I move closer they twinkle for me
III. Such a beautiful reverse
CLIFFORD LEAMAN alto saxophone

GORDON (DICK) GOODWIN (b.1941)
FOOTPRINTS (2012)
I. Drunken Sailor
II. Just a Simple Sashay
III. Left Foot Jitterbug
IV. Soft Shoe
V. In the Sand
VI. Lock Step
VII. Tarantella
JAMES ACKLEY trumpet





MSR Classics