I met Ujjhal in Ithaca, NY a few years ago when he was studying for his masters degree at Ithaca College. His technical abilities were unreal and inspired me to write him a piece for marimba. The piece featured those astounding physical feats, but was barely playable.
Earlier in this year, we talked about writing a new piece for vibraphone— one that wasn’t as difficult. He mentioned he was really interested in open voiced dissonant intervals. After our conversation, I went to sleep. At 3AM that night, I woke up and wrote the first couple bars.
There are moments in the piece inspired by Frank Zappa and marimba composer/innovator Gordon Stout.
