RiverField

James Stephenson

Commissioned by the Big River Brass Band in memory of Jim Holifield

July 23, 2023

St. Paul Lutheran Church

Davenport, Iowa

Big River Brass Band

Nicolas Propes, music director

In January of 2022, we lost a very dear member of the Big River Brass Band, Jim Holifield. Jim was a former high school band director who had a fondness for marches by John Phillips Sousa. He also liked George Gershwin and bluegrass music, especially Alison Krause. He was a trombone player in many local ensembles, including our own group of which he was a founding member. He was a long-time employee of Griggs Music where he was the host of the annual Quad Cities Tuba Christmas.

When Jim passed away, knowing how much the Big River Brass Band meant to him, Jim’s family asked for all donations to be made to the Big River Brass Band. We knew that we had to do something special to honor our long time friend and decided the best way to show our respect and admiration was through a piece of music written in his honor. We used those donations to commission world-renowned composer James Stephenson to write a piece in Jim’s honor.

Mr. Stephenson has composed for a literal who’s-who of ensembles including the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The United States Marine Band, our very own Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and now the Big River Brass Band!

Mr. Stephenson employed two main themes in this piece: the first is played mostly in unison by the trombones - Jim’s instrument. The second theme begins in the horns and tubas.

These two themes are later combined and played together.

The piece's title is also a combination of two themes at play: the Big RIVER Brass Band and Jim's last name, HoliFIELD. Hence the title, "RiverField."

We hope you all enjoy this beautiful piece of music as much as we do as we pay tribute to our long-time friend Jim Holifield. This is “RiverField”.