APPLETON, WIS. — On the mound, pitching legend Leroy Satchel" Paige could make a baseball sing."
Lawrence University's award-winning composer and baseball lover Fred Sturm has combined his two passions in a musical tribute to the Hall of Famer.
The Baseball Music Project is releasing Don't Look Back," a newly commissioned work written by Lawrence's director of jazz studies and improvisational music that pays homage to the legendary pitcher and Negro Leagues superstar and some of his most celebrated quotes.
Named in honor of what is arguably Paige's most famous line — Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." — the work is being released July 7 in conjunction with what would have been Paige's 106th birthday.
Add Satchel's joyful swagger, humor and down home wisdom to the greatest pitching record in baseball history and you get the stuff of an American icon," said Sturm, who serves as artistic director for the BMP. I worked my favorite Paige quote into the song's lyrics: 'Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.' That falls somewhere between Mark Twain and Yogi Berra."
Wisconsin musician Woody Mankowski provides the vocals and plays saxophone on the piece and is accompanied by Lawrence Conservatory of Music faculty members
Lawrence University's award-winning composer and baseball lover Fred Sturm has combined his two passions in a musical tribute to the Hall of Famer.
The Baseball Music Project is releasing Don't Look Back," a newly commissioned work written by Lawrence's director of jazz studies and improvisational music that pays homage to the legendary pitcher and Negro Leagues superstar and some of his most celebrated quotes.
Named in honor of what is arguably Paige's most famous line — Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." — the work is being released July 7 in conjunction with what would have been Paige's 106th birthday.
Add Satchel's joyful swagger, humor and down home wisdom to the greatest pitching record in baseball history and you get the stuff of an American icon," said Sturm, who serves as artistic director for the BMP. I worked my favorite Paige quote into the song's lyrics: 'Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.' That falls somewhere between Mark Twain and Yogi Berra."
Wisconsin musician Woody Mankowski provides the vocals and plays saxophone on the piece and is accompanied by Lawrence Conservatory of Music faculty members

Bill Carrothers
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