"Sevens"
by Samuel R. Hazo
Grade Level 5

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"Sevens" was commissioned by Dr. Leslie Hicken at Furman University , on behalf of South Carolina ’s CBDNA members who contribute to the state’s Collegiate Honor Band. The world premiere of SEVENS was conducted by Colonel Lowell E. Graham, D.M.A. (U.S. Air Force, Ret.).

One moment in musical history, that I feel had a critical impact on modern ensemble music, was George Gershwin’s incorporation of jazz elements into the repertoire of orchestral music. Purists were appalled while listeners couldn’t help but smile at these new sounds coming from a symphony orchestra. Gershwin’s jazz inspired orchestral composition Rhapsody in Blue was actually the brain child of Band leader Paul Whiteman, who broached the idea to Gershwin in 1922. (…Figures it would be a band guy!) Whiteman wanted nothing more than to shake up the “highbrow” element that surrounded symphonic concert halls of that era. Rhapsody in Blue was written and performed in 1923. Its impact has proven to be timeless.

Fast forward 81 years to 2004, the year of composition for SEVENS. Musical circles have grown to the point where the overlapping of musical genres is, at the very least, acceptable and, more accurately, encouraged. When I got the call from Les Hicken to write this piece, he mentioned to me that he would love it if the piece could be a “barnburner.” I hadn’t written a piece that could be classified as a “barnburner” since I wrote a composition titled Ride. However, they are so much fun to do (even though they take forever to score), that I was happy to oblige. Shortly after Les called me, I was listening to one of my favorite musical groups, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. I thought to myself that, at present, there’s no composition that I know of, that is just a straight ahead, in-your-face, Big Phat Band style composition for Wind Symphony; in other words, a true “barnburner.” Perhaps a composition in that style would be just the right fit for this commission. Only one obstacle… I have never written a jazz composition in my life.

In an effort to write a modern day barnburner, as well as a tribute of appreciation to George Gershwin and Gordon Goodwin, I picked the concept that the “seventh” was the musical interval that Rhapsody in Blue kept so prominent. So, I based the entire composition in sevens. Every part of this piece has a connection to the number seven. That connection could be the number of notes in the phrase, the time signature, the seventh-step chord that a phrase is based upon, etc…

Strangely enough, after I finished the entire composition, I discovered that my tribute to George Gershwin and Gordon Goodwin, titled Sevens, had one more symbolic turn. Both composers share the same initials: G.G.; coincidentally the seventh letter of the alphabet.

Samuel R. Hazo,
Pittsburgh, PA
December 9, 2004