Photo of Jim Croce with Maury Muehleisen  Blues For Jim

   (Solo Piano) - Programme Notes

   (2010; 5' 30")

 Click to view score
← Click to view or print score
    (and please let me know if you perform this)
 ← Audio recording
    (plays automatically; click "pause" button to stop)
 ← Click if the above audio player does not work


            Blues For Jim was begun after watching several YouTube video performances by Jim Croce, a wonderful songwriter who died in an airplane crash in 1973, about two months after his biggest single, "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", hit #1 on the American popular music charts. Other big hits of his were "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)," "Time in a Bottle," and"I Got a Name."
            I was sixteen when he died, and I used to play and sing lots of his songs, so his death hit me pretty hard. Fast forward thirty-seven years, and I happened to be watching some video performances of Croce and his musical collaborator Maury Muehleisen (who also died in the same plane crash) one day, amazed all over again at what great musicians they were, and lamenting their premature demise, and so I decided to try to express some of that in a tune.
            What I wrote has no relationship to any of Croce's songs; I was just trying to express feelings about his music and life using my musical language. It doesn't use blues scales or chord progressions either... "Blues" in my title just refers to a mood.
            I wrote this using Finale notation software, and the audio file above is a recording of Finale playing that file. It was not commissioned, and has not been performed yet (spring, 2012).
            Visit MacJams.com to read a variety of comments from listeners on this composition.

©Clark Winslow Ross

    Other works for piano by Clark Ross you might enjoy:

     Dream Dance (A wild, virtuosic, perpetual motion joyride; 2007)
     Domenico 1° & 2° (Two sonatas inspired by Scarlatti; 2009)
     Last Dance (Juno nominated slow tango, called "haunting and beautiful" by Jon Kimura Parker; 1999)
     Jennifer's Tune (A pretty tune (for piano and bass) for my wife; 2005)
     Julia's Prelude (A pretty tune for my daughter, in the style of Schumann; 1996)
     iPad Riff Recontextualized (Inspired by the music of an iPad commercial; 2010)
     Keep on Truckin' (Boogie-woogie blues with a dash of Musorgsky in the middle; 2010)
     Late Night Music (Jazz-inspired work for trumpet, piano, drum kit, and bass)

clark ross, composer, contact, contact me, contact page, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian clark ross, composer, bio, biography, long bio, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian clark ross, composer, bio, biography, short bio, contemporary, canada, canadian, performer, list, maracaibo, venezuela, peru clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, trumpet, trombone, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, piano, percussion clark ross, MIDI, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, saxophone, alto, Eb clark ross, composer, classical guitar, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, solo, string quartet, strings clark ross, composer, percussion, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, voice, soprano, high voice, tenor, 9/11, song, despair, solomon, Bible, chamber music, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, piano solo, solo piano, pedagogical, concert, virtuosic, beginner, short, flute piano, violin piano, trombone piano, soprano piano, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, dance, dance music, memory quilt, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, chamber music, orchestra music, solo music, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, piano, voice, violin, cello, strings clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, canada, canadian, Clark Ross's Links Page clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, jazz, contemporary, canada, canadian, art music, guitar, jazz piano, saxophone, sax, alto sax, dance music, ballet music theory, haromony, handouts, cadential 6/4, mixture, Neapolitan 6th, augmented sixth, chromatic harmony, teaching, class, university, music theory, materials clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, orchestra, string orchestra, lorca, es verdad, cordoba, niño come naranjas clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, piano, piano solo, pedagogical, pedagogy, beginner, intermediate, advanced, learning, solo piano clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, guitar, classical guitar, string quartet, guitar quintet, guitar and string quartet, CBC, Jung clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, guitar, guitar solo, classical guitar, ragtime, blues, variations clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, piano, jazz, bass, string bass, double bass, solo, oscar peterson, walking bass clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, guitar, variations, classical guitar, solo guitar, guitar solo, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, piano, solo, piano solo, solo piano, tango, habanera, habañera, concert, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, piano, percussion, duo, percussion and piano, piano and percussion, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, piano, bass trombone, duo, duck soup, virtuoso, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, orchestra, fanfare, newfoundland, newfound land, overture, Canada, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, lamentations, lament, jeremiah, solo cello, solo, cello, cello solo, bible, destruction, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, lamentations, lament, jeremiah, solo cello, solo, cello, cello solo, bible, destruction, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, memory, quilt, memory quilt, flute, piano, duo, flute and piano, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, band, concert band, wind band, overture, quotation, humorous, humour, humor, mall, shopping mall, wagner, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, soprano, piano, clarinet, psalm, de profundis, despair, trio, bible, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, clarinet, solo, digital delay, echo, ripple, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, song, song of songs, solomon, song of solomon, violin, cello, percussion, soprano, bible, kiss, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, piano, trio, piano trio, violin, cello, sterpping out, penguin, café, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, sax, saxophone, Eb, Eb alto, alto, solo, solo saxophone, urban, dance, jazz, computer, blues, percussion, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, viola, percussion, 2 percussion, trio, CBC, rivka, golani, free clark ross, composer, free download, music, score, classical, contemporary, viola, concerto, solo, viola solo, orchestra, virtuoso, free ClarkRoss.ca Image
image

image