Cash Yo' Peanuts!!

ensemble piano
written fall 2026
duration 5 minutes

for Clayton

program notes

In retrospect, it was inevitable that I’d eventually find my way to the slick-as-hell virtuosity of seminal Japanese jazz-funk band Casiopea. I was obsessed with Hiromi and Snarky Puppy in college, came around to Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder in my master’s, and discovered Vulfpeck and Ginger Root shortly thereafter. The Youtube algorithm’s insistence I listen to the likes of Himiko Kikuchi primed me for the uniquely Japanese sound of J-funk, and after seeing Ginger Root tout Casiopea as a special influence, I dug in.

I was genuinely blown away by their sound - smooth and effortless, wildly enthusiastic, stunningly skillful on every level. Their tunes weren’t necessarily the most sophisticated nor the most rigorously structured, but they were always vibrant and alive in ways that most bands would kill for.

Despite my love for jazz-funk, I have mostly been reluctant to incorporate its stylings into my own music - not out of some desire to keep them separate, but because I lacked a sufficient grasp of jazz theory to make anything I felt to be convincing. This piece came about after getting to meet and hear the astounding Clayton Stephenson, whose ferocity of sound was matched only by the warmth of his character. He was no stranger to jazzy writing, and I felt it was time to try an encore/etude in the kinetic style of my favorite J-funk bands.