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James Ackley will perform works by Turrin, Wright, Ewazen, and Bradshaw in recital at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 in the School of Music Recital Hall. Admission is free.
Ackley, a new associate professor of trumpet in the School of Music, has brought the music of Colombia to Columbia on his second CD, Lirico Latino.
Before coming to Carolina to teach this fall, Ackley was the principal trumpet for the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and then for the Bogota Philharmonic in Colombia for six years. For the CD, he chose tunes and melodies he had heard and loved at concerts or recitals or on the airways while living in Latin America.
"These are songs that really moved me," said Ackley, who also taught at the University of Connecticut six years before moving to South Carolina. "The melodies are very lovely. They're lush and lyrical--something you don't expect from a trumpet player at all."
And the songs showcase what, Ackley believes, he does best, Latino music.
"I live in that world every day. I speak Spanish at home," said Ackley, who met and married his wife, Yesenia, while in Mexico. "I didn't speak a lick of Spanish before I went to Mexico. Bano--bathroom--cerveza--beer--all brass players know that one--and taco and burrito, that's all I knew. Now, I'm fluent."
A couple of tunes on the CD are universal and well known outside of Latin America. "'Estrellita,' which means Little Star, by Manuel Maria Ponce, is very famous worldwide," Ackley said.
Ackley arranged another famous piece, "Aranjuez," originally a concerto for guitar, by Joaquin Rodrigo Vidre, for flugelhorn and trumpet. Singer Julio Iglesias wrote the lyrics and Rafael Ferro Garcia the music for the last song on the CD, "Abrazame," which means Embrace Me.
"I first heard it sung by a Mariachi singer and was intrigued right away because of the words," Ackley said. "The Spanish language is like other Latin languages. It's lush and beautiful and highly romantic, and, as my wife will tell you, I'm a romantic guy."
Ackley transcribed and arranged all of the songs for trumpet and piano. He added congas and maracas on two of the tracks. Working with a producer and an engineer, he recorded the CD at Firehouse 12, a state-of-the-art studio in New Haven, Conn. All but one of the songs were recorded live in the studio with little mixing or re-mastering.
"It went very quickly. If we made a mistake, we'd stop immediately and then were off and running again," Ackley said. "Every song on the CD is basically a performance."
MSR Classics, an independent CD label, released the recording at the end of the summer. Copies are available at msrcd.com, at amazaon.com, at jamesackley.com, or by calling Ackley directly at 7-4149.
"When I left the orchestra, in addition to teaching, I wanted to become a soloist, make some CDs, and record music that hasn't been recorded before," Ackley said. "I accomplished half those goals, I think, with my first CD, Recital Music for Trumpet. I definitely hit it on the head, I believe, with this CD."
Ackley already is making plans for a third CD, a collection of trumpet ensemble music to be recorded with colleagues from the East Coast.
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James Ackley
