Alone Together, for bass clarinet and double bass (1987), was inspired by the improvisation on the jazz tune, “Alone Together”, (written by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz,) by Eric Dolphy, bass clarinet, and Richard Davis, double bass.  The piece explores various views of the melody and its harmony, from tonality to atonality, swing to non-swing, homophony to polyphony.  It also contains more explicit reference to the original tune: in fragmentation at the beginning; in its entirety in the middle; and in an atonal setting at the end.  Throughout there is a certain amount of play on the inherent contradiction of the title. (Janice Misurell-Mitchell)