Review

Tom Dossett
Mamba Dance:

Coventry, , United Kingdom
Publisher: Warwick Music Publishers
Date of Publication: 2009
URL: http://www.warwickmusic.com

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

Over the past decade, composer Tom Dossett has written two Trombone Quartets, Art of the Slide and the newly completed Road to Topaz, a duet for tenor and bass trombone titled Excursions, and no less than eleven works for bass trombone and piano including Trilogy, Scenes, Suite of Colour (also with percussion), Carrousel Song, Furiant, Hyper 1, Spies and Villains, Sweet Lullaby, Three Cups of Life, and Waltz for Elephants. All of his works are available through Warwick Music and most are tailored to the intermediate player. Mr. Dossett’s pieces have an abundance of character and pleasant melodies, all within a relatively modest melodic range. Mamba Dance is a single movement, moderately fast tempo work.  

The “Mamba” may be a reference to the species of highly venomous snakes from Africa as the music is, at times, dynamically striking while at others it appears to represent the “snake charmer” with repetitive chromatic sixteenth-note figures. Its form is ABA with coda and the high register is avoided while a few excursions are made into the pedal register; range is FF to e-flat1. Mamba Dance is an enjoyable work that can be programmed as a short, lighter piece, ideal between longer sonatas or concertos. More information about the composer, along with clips of his music, can be found at Tom’s Website: http://thescribblershand.com/bio.html.  

-Eric High
St. Norbert College