Drop Dead Bop
Commissioned by Saint Paul City Ballet (2006)
- Scott Chabot - drums
- George Maure r-piano
- Jeff Engholm - bass
- Muggsy Lauer - guitar
- Jim Ten Bensel - trombone solo
- Bruce THornton - clarinet solo
- Erin Vork - horn in F
- Rich Manek - bari sax, alto sax solo
- Mike Anderson - alto sax
- Richard Witteman - trumpet solo
- Lauren Vork - trombone
- Ken Vork - bass trombone
- Gretchen Vork - horn in F
“Drop dead, George!” was Muggsy's barely veiled curse toward me after the George Maurer Big Band first read through Drop Dead Bop, which all fed nicely into my evil plan when I chose to write bebop for ballet. I wanted to write something that would cause my musicians to throw the score back in my face in frustration, and dancers to break down and have fits. Drop Dead Bop is designed to be a cross between a juiced-up Theme from the Muppet Show with overtones of Charlie Mingus meets Sunday morning black Baptist church. Throw in a healthy bit of comedy with the characters from Spy vs Spy chasing each other through the pews, and stir in an extra long manic sax solo-ala-Manek, and you get the Drop Dead Bop. This is dedicated to my dad, George, with gratitude for all the Henry Mancini albums he kept playing on the Girard turntable when I was a kid (thankfully more frequently than his Herb Alpert LPs, or this song might have taken on entirely different overtones!)
