One of my favorite pieces I’ve ever written, even still. I wrote this one during my last semester at NEC because we were bringing in a special guest to play a baritone sax feature in the concert, and I wanted to give our regular bari player a song. She’s still a badass. Melanie Howell. That Vulcan-crazed, Wisconsin chic can play anything in the entire family. I’ve actually SEEN her play everything from piccolo to contrabass clarinet, and apparently, she’s picked up double reeds since. She was great.

I found the primary, six-note motive, and I imagined what would happen if the Basie Band was playing a high-energy blues when whatever they took kicked in. I’m still proud of this one.

The title came from sitting in my non-airconditioned apartment in a sweltering Boston summer and hearing some kids walking down the sidewalk making noise. One of them very loudly declared “NOBODY’S SELLING LEMONADE!!!!” Not like a complaint. More like a Royal decree. I jumped up, ran to the desk, wrote it down, and a year and a half later, turned it into a chart. It’s a fun one, for sure.