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Sun, Rise is a work that stems from my return to college years in 1983 to simultaneously earn my Bachelor of Music (Theory/Composition) and Master of Arts in Music (also Theory/Composition), finally graduating with honors in 1986.

In hindsight, I realize how fortunate I was to have had mentors like Herb Harrison for big band/jazz arranging. He was a brilliant arranger and composer for that idiom and a remarkable teacher, providing his students the opportunity to arrange (and in my case, compose) for the big band jazz idiom and then have the works performed. That was an invaluable experience. Dr. Daniel Kingman tutored me in a variety of courses. Herb had studied with French composer Darius Milhaud, and thus was literally one handshake away from the great French composers in the 20th Century. Dr. Kingman became a noted scholar and author of American music and as a composer.

Sun, Rise was completed in its original version in December 1983. It was first performed at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) in 1984, by the big jazz band under the direction of Herb Harrison. Before the performance Herb addressed the audience with an introduction to my piece and with a question: "Is it jazz, or isn't it...?" This was similar to what Dr. Daniel Kingman said before conducting my pas de deux ballet for orchestra, Hiawatha at the Festival of New American Music: "Is it contemporary music, or isn't it?"

In form, it is a rondo of sorts, with alternating sections in a constant state of variations and evolution. As with other works from that early period, I have recently made many revisions and corrections.

Performance time is about 8'30".
:-)
Vanessa McClintock
April 2023