A wonderful new CD by William Hill: “Funky Little Crustaceans”

There is an old saying that I have drawn attention to in past articles which says that the further away an individual is, or has to come from to arrive at any given spot, the greater his expertise. So many people believe this old rubric that when important musicians are mentioned or searched for, they immediately look to New York, Bloomington, Indiana, or Europe. This review concerns a recording made by two powerfully artistic individuals that live – are you ready for this? – in Denver, and a third who truly does live in Bloomington, Indiana. This review is about a CD that was released by these individuals in 2007. The three individuals are William Hill, who is on the Composition Faculty at the Lamont School of Music at DU, Lawrence Golan who teaches conducting at the Lamont School of Music, and last, but certainly not least, is the remarkable flautist, James Pellerite, who is now retired from the woodwind faculty at the renowned Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington.

The CD that I am referring to has the somewhat unusual title, “Funky Little Crustaceans.” All of the music on this CD was composed by William Hill, who as most of you should by now know, is not only a composer, he is also the timpanist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The title of the CD is also the title of the first composition on the CD. It came from a stroll that Mr. Hill and his violinist wife, Natalie, were taking on the beach on the Outer Banks. As they walked along, some enormous waves crashed on the beach, and after each one, myriad crustaceans were washed onto the sand. After only a few seconds of wobbling about, they vanished into the sand as quickly as a fox can disappear into the mist. These small creatures of the sea did this in perfect unison. Mrs. Hill exclaimed, “What funky little crustaceans!”

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