This site is home to Alea Publishing & Recording, specializing in music for the bass clarinet.
We offer a growing catalog of creative, artistic transcriptions and new works for bass clarinet solo & ensemble.
About the Piece
Program note courtesy of the composer:
The Urban Poetry Suite for clarinet and guitar was written in the Spring of 2015. I was inspired to write this piece after passing by the Mission Street Bart Station in San Francisco on a Friday evening, when I witnessed a group of young men and women jamming poetry ad lib. I was absolutely captivated by their energy, sincerity, and most importantly, this overwhelming sense of uninhibited freedom. The entire piece consists of five movements, each assumes a different poetic image: 1) Freeflow 2) Ballade 3) Slam 4) Sonnet 5) Rap.
The third movement has two versions: one with complete written-out notes; the other with an improvisation section towards the end. The players are encouraged to jam with each other using the pitch set that the entire movement is built on. After all, free association from a given motive is the whole idea of poetry slam. Just have fun with it!
This piece is dedicated to my guitar partner Travis Johnson, whose amazing artistry made this piece possible.
Duo score: 25 pages, spiral bind; parts: 12 pages each, booklet.
I. Freeflow
II. Ballade
III. Slam & Improv
IV. Sonnet
V. Rap
Hard Copy Edition
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About the Composer
Jeffrey Gao studied composition with John Carbon, Richard Prior, Elinor Armer and Ryan Brown, and studied clarinet with Prof. Tao Chunxiao, Robert Wingert, Doris Hall-Gulati and Jeff Anderle. His music shows influences ranging from renaissance counterpoint, romanticism, and jazz to Chinese folk music. Jeffrey has received numerous commissions and his works have been performed in China and the U.S. In 2013, his trio for piano, violin and bass clarinet titled "Journey" was commissioned by Trio Clavino for their China tour. The work was performed in such prestigious venues as the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. In 2018 and 2019, he collaborated with the world renowned violinist Haik Kazazyan on a series of concerts in northern California, receiving critical acclaim. Jeffrey has also served as guest lecturer in music history at the Shanghai Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
In addition to his musical career, Jeffrey has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, having held a number of senior leadership positions in sales, business development and corporate strategy.
Jeffrey received his B.A. in in Mathematics and Music from Franklin & Marshall College where he graduated with honors. He also received M.M. in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he currently serves as a board member.
Kim Davenport
President
Duo Alea, the father-daughter duo of Michael and Kimberly Davenport, began performing music for bass clarinet and piano in 1996. As performers searching for new repertoire and teachers working with students eager to develop as performers, it quickly became clear that there was a need for more repertoire featuring the bass clarinet. Filling this need became the mission of Alea Publishing & Recording.
Since our first publication in 1997, the Alea catalog has now grown to include over 300 titles. We pride ourselves on the accuracy and quality of our sheet music, as well as our ability to ship directly to customers around the world.
We are proud of the diversity of our catalog in terms of the inclusion of works by composers and arrangers from around the world. We are interested in continuing to expand this diversity, representing musical ideas from around the world.
Following Michael's passing in 2019, Kim has taken over solo management of Alea Publishing. In 2020, Alea established the Dolphy Prize, an annual composition award for new works for bass clarinet by black composers.
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