Towards the end of my time living in Colorado, I decided to go on a hike with a friend to a place called Isabelle Glacier. I didn’t quite know what I was in for, though the experience was both exhilarating yet challenging. Even in the summertime, the snow glare burnt my legs, the path required snow shoes, and I become winded due to the 13,000ft elevation. However, this trip through the mountain range was like nothing I had seen before and left a lasting impact on me. Shortly after, Bob Mintzer assigned me to write a saxophone quartet. Using this experience as my inspiration, I came up with a piece with three movements; I. Journey Through the Iron Mountains, a movement resembling our grand hike through the mountain range to the Isabelle Glacier; II. Ice Crystals, a movement depicting the otherworldly frozen landscape at the end of our path; and III. Sledding, a movement representing our unique and jubilant experience sliding down the snowy surface of the glacier back to our starting point. It’s a trip I will never forget, and served as the inspiration for this piece, which came to me quickly after only a few nights of composing.

Special thanks to Andy Scott and the Apollo Saxophone Quartet for workshopping this piece.