As a former trumpet player myself, I had long played in brass quintets. As my interested had also turned to arranging, and upon having just completed a compositional course in the summer of 1993, I decided it was time to try my hand at composing something original.

That year, at the Naples Philharmonic, where I was Assistant Principal/2nd trumpet, we had just hired a new tuba player (James Jenkins) for one season. I decided to ask him if I could write a new piece for him to premiere the follo...