“‘Swing Shift’ was composed in collaboration with the wonderful bassoonist, Christin Schillinger, who I had the pleasure of meeting at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where she was the Director of the International Double Reed Society in 2012. She has been touring with my sonata for bassoon and piano, ‘Circadia’, and has recorded it with the terrific pianist, Jed Moss on her CD, Bassoon Transcended. Christian called me excitedly one day to say she had been listening to some fabulous singers from the 1950s and thought it would be interesting to base a piece on these extraordinary women. As I had some experience as a jazz singer back in the day, I immediately set to work discovering wonderful old recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Anita O’Day and began this new work for bassoon and piano with the possibility of having a jazz drummer improvise various rhythmic motifs as an accompaniment to the piece. ‘Swing Shift’ is a single movement divided into several sections: ABACADA, the A sections having a Latin feel while the B and C sections are meant to be swung ie. two eighth notes should be played with a triplet feel with the first half of the beat longer than the second half. There is also a section that has a straight eighth feel. The bassoon part is the singer, and the piano part is the rhythm section.” 

– Adrienne Albert