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L-R: Brantley, Holt and Coble at Carnegie Hall

Two music professors at the University of South Florida (USF) have recently released Confluences, a new trumpet and trombone CD. Jay Coble teaches trumpet at USF, and Tom Brantley teaches trombone. About a year ago, they began planning a new CD that would include as much new repertoire for trumpet/trombone duets as possible.

"We even considered calling the project Duels and Duets or something," said Coble. "But in the process of commissioning some new works, we hit upon a much better title." Composer-in-residence Chuck Owen also teaches at the University of South Florida in Tampa . Owen is well-known in the jazz community for his work with the International Association of Jazz Educators and his own professional big band The Jazz Surge. Owen, who is also a former trombonist, composed a new three-movement piece for trumpet, trombone and string quintet entitled Confluences, and thus the CD recording project had a name.

Owen used the term "confluences" to reflect the merging of two streams - whether those are musical streams or streams of water - the place where those two things come together is the point. He took advantage of the fact that both Brantley and Coble have an extensive jazz background in addition to their classical training; the strength of the piece rests upon the versatility of both musicians.

In support of the new CD, Brantley and Coble mounted a short tour of the East Coast of the USA including stops at Purchase College (State University of New York) for a recording project with composer David Gluck and performances at Appalachian State University, North Carolina. The tour ended with a performance at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall , New York City, this September. Joined by pianist Corey Jane Holt, also of Tampa , the three musicians performed most of the works from the new recording. Both the recording project and the tour were sponsored by USF Creative Research Grants and support from Yamaha. Both Brantley and Coble are Yamaha Artists.

The CD is available by contacting Coble at jcoble@arts.usf.edu or Brantley at brantley@arts.usf.edu.

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School of Music, University of South Florida