Meet The Composer has been instrumental in opening the composer’s world for me. Most of my reputation has been as a jazz musician, an improviser. To be known as a composer of written music is like another world. But Meet The Composer has encouraged all forms of American music. Jazz, the only art form created in America, has always needed support, as have all the arts. I can remember receiving my first grant from Meet The Composer and what an encouraging moment that was. It inspired me to continue in the pursuit of my musical goals.

Meet The Composer commissions have afforded me the time to compose by being more selective in my performing schedule. They have also helped tremendously with the purchase of music software.

Flirtation Blue, commissioned in 1992, was performed by the California EAR Unit in San Francisco — my first west coast chamber music performance. Love Like Sisters, commissioned in 1990, has been performed not only by the World Saxophone Quartet but also by numerous student ensembles, fulfilling my goal to get involved with education. Reminds Me Suite, commissioned in 1994, has been performed by Trio Three many times throughout the United States and Canada. I was a composer in residence through Meet The Composer’s New Residencies program. In 2000, my first year of residence, I composed music for a play at Bloomfield College, two pieces for the Sharon Miller Dance Company, incidental music for a Montclair, NJ, elementary school presentation on racism, music for a video presentation, and music to inspire art classes and poetry workshops at the elementary and college levels. There is no way to calculate the value of all these commissions.

I know from first-hand experience how important it is to have an organization that is contemporary — not “avant-garde” (ahead of its time), but “contemporary” (today). Meet The Composer has made a commitment to “today,” supporting contemporary American music and composers.