Biography
Composer by character and performer by temperament, James Scott Balentine (Jim to those who know him) is as complex as his music; that is, moderately but engaging. Jim’s compositions are fun and interesting to play, engaging to the listener, and crafted in a personal language influenced by ethnic dance, jazz, folk idioms, as well as atonal and serial techniques when they seem appropriate.
Commissioned by soloists and ensembles including Robert Walzel, clarinet, Ron Wilkins, trombone, the Texas Clarinet Consort, Timothy Jones, baritone, Richard Smith, piano, the Hemisphere Quartet, and the King William Winds, his music has been performed at many international conferences and festivals, including the Utah Arts Festival, International Clarinet Association Clarinetfest, the International Double Reed Convention, the International Flute Society Convention, and New Music Festivals at Indiana State University, Otterbein College, Electronic Music Plus, Shanghai International Clarinet Festival, and others. He has received commissions and awards from the Barlow Endowment, the College Band Directors National Association, the American Music Center, ASCAP, the Artist Foundation of San Antonio, Cactus Pear Festival, the Krost Symposium, and Musical Offerings. His music is published by Guildhian Music, Southern Music, Cimarron Music, and Ballerbach.
A prolific arranger as well as composer, Jim’s arrangements have been performed by the San Antonio Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and others, and his big band charts are included in the libraries of big bands across the United States.
Jim is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and currently serves as Associate Chair of the Department of Music. He teaches courses in music theory and composition, jazz studies, and an occasional music business seminar. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of South Carolina and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin. His composition teachers included Hunter Johnson, Gordon (Dick) Goodwin, Samuel Douglas, Eugene Kurtz, Barton McLean and Karl Korte. He has also served as Director of Jazz Studies at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and was founder and owner of One Music Square, a full line retail music store.
Personal
Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1947, the son of a career Air Force officer, Jim was raised in Paris, France; Montgomery, Alabama; Tachikawa, Japan, and has since lived (from as little as six weeks to ten years) in such diverse locations as Winnipeg (Canada), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Zurich (Switzerland); Midwest City (Oklahoma), Houston, Austin, and Huntsville (Texas), and currently resides in the hill country near San Antonio. He is a certificated private pilot, a pretty good cook, and a passable tennis player (pun intended). Jim and his wife Cindy have three grown children, James, David and Ben.