An American Concerto
Patrick Williams (born April 23, 1939) is truly a composer for the 21st century. Over the past three decades, he has won acclaim in every realm of American music: jazz, popular, concert hall, film and television. Nominated for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for composing the groundbreaking orchestral work An American Concerto, he has won two GRAMMYs for his jazz arrangements, four Emmys for his television music, an Oscar nomination for film composition, and the prestigious Richard Kirk Award from BMI. Several of Williams' recordings are considered contemporary big-band classics, including Threshold, which won a 1974 GRAMMY; Too Hip for the Room, a GRAMMY nominee in 1983; Tenth Avenue, a double GRAMMY nominee in 1987; and Sinatraland, a tribute to the singer which was GRAMMY-nominated in 1998. Williams has received 16 GRAMMY nominations for his compositions and arrangements. An American Concerto, composed in 1976, was one of the first - and still ranks as among the most successful - attempts to combine jazz elements with traditional symphonic writing. "His An American Concerto is, in my opinion, the best mixture of jazz and classical that anybody has ever done," says respected music critic Gene Lees. "Pat's writing is breathtaking. He's just one of the finest arrangers and composers who ever put pen to paper." Daniel Cariaga wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "An American Concerto must be one of the most attractive, affecting and original of jazz-symphonic meldings. The style is unrestrained, the tunes ingratiating, the writing expert. What Williams owes to the fair influences of Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff seems no more and no less than other living composers may owe in those directions. What sets him a cut above others is the individual integration he has achieved out of those influences."
Patrick Williams  (Author),     Phil Woods  (Author)
{"Manufacturer": "CBS", "Date First Available": "June 19, 2007", "Label": "CBS"}