The work is in two movements:

1. First Light (Dave's Big Horn)
   
2. To the Other side (Don's Big Band)
   

The title of this piece refers to stylistic crossovers, most notably between resources of contemporary "classical" (whatever that means) wind ensemble genres and of big band jazz. The composition of this work grew out of my admiration for the playing of performers such as Dave Demsey, who can move effortlessly between these two musical worlds, and also by a desire to revisit my own jazz roots.

Actually, the work incorporates other "crossover" elements as well, including musical "nods" to textures and gestures drawn from contemporary chamber and vocal music as well as computer-generated genres. However, the intent of the piece is neither "fusion," nor eclecticism or stylistic shell games. Rather, my hope is that musical interest will center on the joint development, both notated and improvisatory, by composer, soloist and ensemble, of fluid, extensible musical ideas and colors that retain an identity and memorability despite transformations through various musical landscapes.

PDF score excerpt
This excerpt, page 17 of the score, occurs about 2/3 of the way through the first movement and is included within the mp3 excerpt from this piece.

MP3 audio excerpt
This excerpt is from a concert performance by David Demsey, tenor sax soloist and the Eastman Wind Ensemble conducted by Donald Hunsberger. The clip begins about half way through the first movement, First Light, and includes measures 56 through 102 of the score.
Duration : 90 seconds; size 2.7 ; encoding 256 kBit true stereo

Crossover was commissioned by the Hanson Institute for American Music in celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary season of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. The work was premiered by saxophonist David Demsey and the Eastman Wind Ensemble conducted by Donald Hunsberger on April 1, 1998.

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