A Conductor’s and Performer’s Guide to Steven Bryant’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone - Chester Jenkins

78 In the last four years, the work has been performed in part or in whole about a dozen times. While most of the early performances were by Joe Lulloff, it has recently received performances by Jeff Loeffert, Associate Professor of Saxophone at Oklahoma State University, as well as by Steven Banks, a master’s student who performed the work at Northwestern University as a concerto competition winner. 70 I believe in the coming years, this concerto has the opportunity to be considered among the cornerstone works in the repertoire, alongside the Husa and Dahl concertos. It is a strongly crafted musical work that grabs and surprises the audience. Bryant’s exhaustive use of limited material binds the concerto together. It is virtuosic without being pretentious, and allows the soloist to showcase all manner of technical, lyrical, and improvisational abilities that they possess. Though the sections requiring improvisation may limit performance opportunities now, more and more students are demonstrating a comfort level and expertise with jazz improvisation, as well as the classical side of the instrument. It is the hope of this author that continued serious study of this work provides additional opportunities for its performance in the coming years, and it gain the recognition within the repertoire that it deserves. 70 Howard Gourwitz and Joe Lulloff, interview by author, Cincinnati, OH, March 11, 2018.