In this short essay, I will be reviewing the third movement of Nathan Tanouye’s ​3 Steps

Forward,​ which is titled “Fate of the Gait”. The recording referenced in this paper will be by the

UNLV Wind Orchestra around 2004. Professor Thomas Leslie conducted the ensemble and Eric

Marienthal was a featured soloist.

The piece itself is in the style of modern jazz, similar to works to artists such as Pat

Metheny. The beginning has a soprano saxophone feature and works into a theme. Improvisation

is then given to the piano, electric bass, then the soprano sax. Once the soprano sax solo ends, a

drum break accompanied by heavy brass comes in. The drums are then given free rein, and the

end of the piece features the entire band. The soprano saxophone starts wailing above them as

the piece reaches its final climax. Although the general instrumentation emulates a big band in

the form of soloist, rhythm section and brass stings. However, the band is still present when it

came to the more climactic parts.

One of the fascinating parts of this piece is that even with improvisation, there is a

noticeable climb in intensity throughout each solo. This may be due to how the piece is created.

The orchestration does get thicker in the solo backgrounds at each passing solo. However, it is

more likely the people improvising did a good job reading each other and worked off of that. The

pianist and bassist build up to a point where Eric Marienthal (the soprano saxophonist) can

unleash an assertive lick at 8:05.

I found this an interesting take on wind band music, and I wonder how this movement fits

into the whole piece. It’s an interesting take since it takes an ensemble that is known for marches

and classical music taking the form of modern jazz. However, it seems that it could have gone

farther. This would have been more interesting if the piece utilized unorthodox instruments for

the improvisation sections, such as the oboe and the french horn.