Dr. Bob at Butler U. will be recording for BRS (Bruce Smith) the last week of March. Excited to have four works accepted and in the mix this year. John Huntoon from AU and Cicero has agreed to help by soloing on the SAINTS version I arranged for Susan and the AU Wind Ensemble a few short years ago. John is quite a performer and entertainer as well as a fine musician, so this is going to be some added icing on the promo coming out online soon. BRS is also publishing GOD REST YE, MERRY GENTLEMEN, FROM TENDER STEM (which Roger and the Hometown Band commissioned from me last winter and I was so pleased with at its premiere in Emens) and
QUAZY QUAKERS, a super easy beginning band piece commissioned by George Caton, Havana, Illinois. Check out Bruce’s site if you haven’t been on it before. It’s well done and nicely laid out. Hopefully the new sounds will be up and online in a few days. CHEERS! www.brsmusic.net/

Al Kiger, wonderful friend and one of the best jazz writers and musicians ever is having several of his charts performed by Mark Buselli’s BSU Jazz Ensemble on Weds., Feb. 8, 7:30, at Sursa Hall on the Ball State campus. Believe this is the annual Tom Shah Memorial Concert presented each winter to celebrate jazz and Tom’s life cut short in an overseas terrorist bombing. Tickets are available at the box office prior to the concert.

AU outstanding music alum Dave Coolidge will be featured in concert at Park Place Church on the westside of AU campus Friday evening, Oct. 21, at 7:30 pm. He will be accompanied by the Anderson University wind ensemble and jazz ensemble during the concert. Here’s a site to check out with a further description of the event: http://www.anderson.edu/arts-events/homecoming.html. Dave is one great lead player and worth everyone’s time to get by the church to hear some great music.

Heard Tommy Emmanuel in concert last Saturday at Emens Auditorium on the Ball State campus. What a knock-out! Put him on your list if he is near you. Incredibly gifted musician. Excellent humor intertwined with his performance too. Same stage where Chet Atkins appeared with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra many years ago, with Dr. Robert Hargreaves conducting.

On June 17, I visited the U.S. Copyright Office in the Madison Building of the Library of Congress. First visit after all these years of writing. It was a hoot…using the card catalogs to search for music written and copyrighted before 1977. I was told you will not find copyrights online written before that date unless they have been renewed in someway. Anyone in the music business should take in this tour and facility when they visit D.C. the next time. Very worthwhile!!

I’m available for requests for band and instrumental commissions and arrangements for the coming year. Please contact me here or at: les@lestaylorpublications.com.

When I started into the publishing business about 1970 working for Frank Cofield at Hal Leonard writing the pop marching band series, we sent only condensed scores in with the extra parts that could not easily be extracted by an engraver without more info, etc. (ex. baritone TC, opt. Eb horn, etc.). They were all handwritten and someone using a music typewriter set all the parts and scores which were returned to me for proofing. A writer was not involved with the technical aspect of the proofs but rather only the creative aspect. Some engraving was done inhouse and some later sent to Korea. Today, we have graduated to the music writing software age…Finale and Sibelius to name two front-runners. Most writers are now responsible for the engraving and paid little or nothing for it. I’ve always felt the engraving stage has more to do with final proofing for a writer rather than the old checking the transposition only approach. Here is a youtube clip about engraving from earlier generations which came to me from John Edmondson, one of instrumental music’s finest writers. Wherever John worked he left his positive mark of organization and grading in the band field…Hansen, Hal Leonard and Queenwood to name three. Here’s the site for you to check out this video clip on engraving. Enjoy! Paste to your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5uPPJj_M_o

“Ancient of Days,” which I composed and arranged years ago for Tim Lautzenheiser when he was band directing at New Mexico State should be entered into Finale within the next 30 days and available to interested groups. The work is for standard symphonic instrumentation and features a jazz quartet of trumpet or flugel, clarinet or sop. sax, bass and drum set. It was premiered at the CBDNA regional in Dallas in 1974. Anyone wanting to know when it’s available should email me.

Continually looking for recordings and/or music by the Metropole Orchestra from the Netherlands. If you have any or know of any, please let me know. THANKS! Specific wants at the moment are: 1) TWILIGHT featuring Bart van Lier; and 2) DAYDREAM featuring Ack van Rooyen; plus anything arranged by Rob Pronk, Dick Bakker, John Clayton, Bill Dobbins, Bill Holman, Jeff Beal, Jerry van Rooyen, Rogier van Otterloo and Vince Mendoza. No reasonable offer refused on good quality recordings. Send your list(s) of one or more.

NEWS RELEASE: The Grace College Community Wind Ensemble will present their final concert of the year. The program will feature not only the Grace College Community Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Martin Becker, but also the popular 18 piece Truth in Jazz Big Band from Elkhart, Indiana. Additionally the concert will feature three soloists during the evening, including Jay Flippin from Lexington, KY, whose special arrangement “Tribute To The Duke” for jazz trio and concert band will be programmed. The concert will be held at the Warsaw High Performing Arts Center on Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 pm. Concert is free doors open at 6:45 pm and the Concert starts at 7:30 pm May 5, 2011.
For further info: email Martin Becker at  becker.martinandjudy@gmail.com; or call Marty at:
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