The Planets: Reimagined
Coming soon on OA2 Records!
The Planets: Reimagined has been a long time coming. After a very successful Kickstarter campaign, I’m incredibly excited to share this record with you all very soon. This project would not have happened without your generous contributions.
I tracked the rhythm section in July, 2019 at Jamey Tate’s studio, “The Workshop.” I was very fortunate to have access to his beautiful Steinway B, seven foot grand piano, provided by U-Jung Jung. The full band was recorded in November, 2019 at Hollywood Scoring, in Los Angeles.
I have a couple final touches to add, then will begin mixing very shortly.
Stay tuned for more information about this record as I get closer to release!
Photo Credits - Jeff Clawson and Sean Gehricke
I first fell in love with Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” as a high school student in Missouri. As a trombonist who also loved Star Wars, it was a perfect match. Little did I know how influential it would become for me. As I went through college and studied more classical music, I began to understand how it became such a groundbreaking work that spawned an entire genre of film music. After moving to Los Angeles, I began my career in orchestration and again and again “The Planets” was always a reference score for any musical situation. The harmony straddled romantic and jazz languages. It's massive scale showed the way forward for the largest of film orchestrations. When I had the opportunity to help write some additional music on the Star Wars: Battlefront videogames, I did an even deeper dive into Holst's harmony and textures. It was truly the musical equivalent of the bible.
In 2017, I attended a performance of “The Planets” at the Hollywood Bowl. That night it all clicked. I was looking for material to adapt for a followup big band record, and I immediately knew what I had to do. Reimagine “The Planets” for modern jazz orchestra.