Aaron Soltis

Nighttime Veil is a modern take on early 20th-century forms of ragtime and jazz. Greatly influenced by the Great American Songbook, a canon of the most important
and influential American popular songs and jazz standards, Nighttime Veil focuses on the ambiguity and character of jazz played late at night.

The first section starts with a spritely, upbeat tempo with a texture akin to ragtime played at the piano. After a soloistic transition, the piece moves forward into a “swing” or “big band” feel, a genre of jazz that was popularized in the early 1930s. After a “chorale” with a singing-like quality, the piece jumps back into the ragtime section, ending with an upbeat mood.