Jon Jeffrey Grier: Hefty Trifles for Brass Quintet

These brief movements can be thought of as character pieces on four contrasting modes of behavior. None of them are of overly deep significance, but are here rendered in the sorts of rich textures that suggest quirky conduct and an absorbed state of mind. Roughly described:
I. Indecorous – with questionable manners, clumsily flouting formality
II. Languorous – contemplative and very mellow
III. Capricious – the opposite of II., flighty, without reflection
IV. Klezmerous – par-teeee!

Jon Jeffrey Grier holds a B.A. from Kalamazoo College, where he studied composition with Lawrence Rackley, an M.M. in Composition from Western Michigan University, studying with Ramon Zupko, and an M.M. in Theory and a D.M.A. in Composition from the University of South Carolina, where he studied with Jerry Curry, Dick Goodwin and Sam Douglas. Jon taught Advanced Placement Music Theory and Music History at the Greenville Fine Arts Center, a magnet school of the arts in Greenville, SC from 1988 to 2019, where he was named Teacher of the Year three times. Awards include grants from ASCAP, the Surdna Foundation, the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, the Metropolitan Arts Council, and the Atlanta Chamber Players. Jon has also been a writer/keyboardist in various jazz & fusion ensembles since 1984. He lives in Greenville with wife Marion and Carolina dingo Roxanne.