Gravity Assist

I composed this piece in 2019 in response to a commission from Nobuya Sugawa. One of the ideas for the piece emerged from a discussion I had with him. about the concept of ‘swing-by’, the technical term synonymous with ‘gravity assist’ that refers to a type of spaceflight whereby the trajectory and speed of a spacecraft or space probe is changed with recourse to the gravitational pull of planets or other astronomical bodies.

The gravitational pull of an astronomical object is represented in this piece through the use of a motif taken from Cosmic Rays in the recorded performance of this piece by the great jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. Rhythmic modulation is used to go back and forth between passages featuring accelerandos and decelerandos while maintaining a sense of musical swing.