Review

Kevin McKee
A Winter’s Night :

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Publisher:
Date of Publication: 2011
URL: http://www.kevinmckeemusic.com/awintersnight.htm

Manuscript

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Kevin McKee, born in 1980 in Yreka, CA, is an active trumpeter, composer, and educator in the Washington DC area. He is a graduate of California State University Sacramento (BM) and the University of Maryland (MM). His compositions for brass quintet and trumpet have been performed extensively throughout North America as well as in Europe, Asia, and Australia by groups such as the National Symphony Brass Quintet, the Philadelphia Orchestra Brass Quintet, the Dallas Symphony Brass Quintet, the Tucson Symphony Brass Quintet, the Arkansas Symphony Brass Quintet, the Navy Brass Quintet, U.S. Army Trumpet Ensemble, and performers such as Jens Lindemann, Ryan Anthony, and Patrick Sheridan. 

The composer wrote the following:  
A Winter's Night is a musical postcard written for my father Brian who started me on my musical journey and has remained my greatest mentor. It depicts a solitary sashay amongst the eerie beauty and foreboding calm of a snowy winter's night. 

A Winter’s Night is formally, technically and musically, quite conservative. Its harmonic, rhythmic and melodic language is a throwback to the 19th century. For the most part, the piano, with many arpeggiated figures, accompanies the trombone, the latter carrying the preponderance of the melodic material. A good high school level player could bring this off without much difficulty. Trombonist Joe Marsala and pianist Jessica Stitt have produced an excellent recording, available on-line at: http://www.kevinmckeemusic.com/awintersnight.htm.

-Karl Hinterbichler
University of New Mexico