It's been nearly two weeks since my recital. I'm happy to report that it went down awesomely. I was thrilled to have so many of my friends and family in attendance, and it was a great experience to play my music (and that of a few jazz greats) for them.

The setlist went as follows. (See Recital Time! for full program notes.)
"Remember Rockefeller at Attica" - Charles Mingus
"Wacky Misadventure" - Joe Walker
"Bashert" - Jason Parker
"Recruitment Bonanza" - Joe Walker
"Defending Their Turf" - Joe Walker
(Intermission)
"The Nearness of You" - Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington
"Trinkle, Tinkle" - Thelonious Monk
"The Kármán Line" - Joe Walker
"A Little Pain" - Bobby Bradford
"Miss Information" - Joe Walker

I got audio and video of the whole thing, and I've been posting each video to YouTube as I sync it with the good audio. All of them (so far) can be found in my YouTube account in the playlist Joe Walker's Graduate Recital. Here's the opener, "Remember Rockefeller at Attica":

In the days following the recital, I got a nice writeup on my good friend Douglas Welcome's new blog. He played bass in the group and gave superb treatment to the music.

Jason Parker also posted on his own blog about my video of his tune, "Bashert". It was great fun to mold his composition into something of my own. I left the melody intact, took the tempo down, and reharmonized it with a Jerome Kern treatment. (All 12 roots appear in the chord symbols. See "All the Things You Are.") I think it turned out great, and I'd love a chance to do it again. And again.

Now that the recital's done, all I have left is an oral exam. I hear the jazz majors have it easier, and it's more of an exit interview with some transcribing and analysis. So I'm almost a Master of Music. Give me a minute to reflect on what this means.