As a university student, I used to play the vibes in a jazz band, nothing fancy, but still much fun. It had nothing to do with the university, a couple of friends came together is all. We did have quite a lot of gigs actually. Some concerts went really well, some didn't, it was a regular jazz band with its ups and downs. There were seven quite trained members and most of our songs were instrumental standards.
The most common setup was: alto sax, trombone, trumpet, piano, bass, drums and vibes. I really enjoyed playing together, however I wanted to have something very interesting, written specifically for our band and these instruments. Since there weren't so many pieces available fulfilling the criteria, I decided to compose my own one. I really like to play complicated rhythms (I am a percussionist after all), and I also love to play and listen to music that uses an asymmetrical (unpair) beat. Well, 3/4 is very common, for 5/4 there is Take five. One of my favorite beats is 7/4 (or even better 7/8), but there is Unsquare dance, both from Dave Brubeck. So I thought, I would go for 9/4. And I did. I wanted to create something very difficult that is very hard to play, which I think went well, because we never (could) play the piece. :) But more on that later.
The year was 2005, I sat down to the computer, and used Sibelius (an early version) to create the notes. It was truly a pain in the a**. It took really much time, and I also had the problem that there were no hi-hats for the drum kit, only a triangle like cymbal that was just way too loud. Also, the playback was always out of dynamical balance, but it was still enough to listen back what I wrote. I must admit, the beginning melody, which is also at the end, is very busy, I should have made it differently. But I think the solos are all right for the most part. Once I was done, I exported the file in midi-format and also pdf for the notes, I printed out everything and gave it to the band.
We actually practiced our parts a bit, but the 9/4 beat and the speed were fairly frustrating. And our band fell apart a couple of months later. Some of us created another band, but we never actually had a concert. So, aside from that midi file, there is no recording of my piece whatsoever.
A couple of years back I applied for a job as a composer and needed some of my compositions for the process. I went back to this piece as well, but couldn't find the notes. They must be somewhere on an old drive, but most certainly in Hungary, and I have been in Japan since 2009, so the chances that I would find them are really thin. I really didn't want to renote everything, so I went with the easiest approach: I installed Sibelius (an up to date version) and opened the midi file. The results were both very good and awful at the same time. The notes were there, but some of them were just chaotic, most likely due to the 15 year time gap between the to versions of Sibelius... :) I am still looking for the original pdf, since it is easier to read, but you can still listen to the midi here. You just have to endure that triangle and the dynamics. Also, you should know that midi files are very limited, so you have to use your imagination to have the real sound of the instruments.
By the way, I might publish the notes later, maybe as an extra on this page.