Bergamo-Little Smegma, Son of Toecheese (SP)-V/M/DS/P/CB

Little Smegma, Son of ToeCheese presents a wide range of metric challenges. The introduction has sections that transition from 3/2 – 2/2 with ternary and quintuple subdivisions. There are open sections in the middle of the piece for solos from the entire ensemble.

Number of Players: 5
Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:

Player I: Vibraphone

Player II: Marimba

Player III: Percussion (indeterminate)

Player IV: Drumset

Player V: Bass

From his early days as a drummer in New Jersey, John Bergamo has never lost his desire to expand his interest in percussion. In 1959 John attended the Lenox School of Jazz in Lenox Mass. next door to Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony. Under a scholarship, John studied drumset with Max Roach; had Percy Heath and Kenny Dorham as jazz band instructors; studied history and theory with Gunther Schuller, Marshall Stearns and George Russell; and was classmates with Ornette Coleman, and Don Cherry. In 1962 John earned an M.M. degree from Manhattan School of Music, followed by three summers in Tanglewood and time in New York City as a freelance musician.