Bryan Kidd

From Wind Repertory Project
Bryan Kidd

Biography

C. Bryan Kidd (b. 16 August 1949, Waynesboro, Va.) is an American composer and arranger.

His mother gave him piano lessons at an early age, and he began playing saxophone in the fifth grade. His high school band director encouraged him to begin composing while still in school, and he spent his late high school and early college year summers at the New York State Music Camp studying composition and arranging with Thomas A. Brown. A graduate of Shenandoah University, Mr. Kidd holds degrees in music education (BME, ’71) and composition (MM, ’10).

Mr. Kidd’s composing, arranging, conducting, and teaching -- which range from the elementary through collegiate and professional levels -- began in 1971 as the band director at Hayfield Secondary School (grades 7 - 12) in Fairfax County, Virginia. In 1976 he joined the Navy Band as a Staff Arranger, retiring as the Chief Composer and Arranger in 2002. Navy Band performances of Mr. Kidd's music through concerts, recordings and television appearances have spanned the globe -- from the White House to Carnegie Hall to St. Petersburg, Russia.

While primarily known as a big band arranger, Bryan Kidd's 26 years with the United States Navy Band, Washington, DC, was an all-encompassing experience of arranging and composing in a wide variety of styles for the band's various ensembles: Concert and Ceremonial Bands, Commodores (jazz ensemble), Sea Chanters (chorus), Fair Winds (jazz vocal quartet), Country Current (county-western and Bluegrass) and Cruisers (rock band).

Mr. Kidd's particular affinity for big band swing and jazz is evident in the music he has written for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, under the direction of Buddy Morrow; the Glenn Miller Orchestra, directed by Larry O’Brien; the Terry Meyers Orchestra; Baltimore’s Zim Zemarel Orchestra; and the Rory Partin Orchestra from Nashville.

Currently, Mr. Kidd is the Composer/Arranger-in-Residence for the American Festival Pops Orchestra, a professional ensemble affiliated with George Mason University and staffed by Washington's finest military and civilian musicians.


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