 In a 1981 interview with Capital Radio, he cited as influences the music of Berg, Prokofiev, Bartók and Ives, in addition to jazz and early Bach studies.Throughout his career his language remained one of relatively conservative mid-century modernism, with a bent toward gentle lyricism; though he wrote some works in a lighter vein, and jazz idioms and techniques pop up in even his most “serious” scores.His large-scale works include concertos for Trombone (1956), Trumpet (1983), and Tuba (1992); "Music for Three Trombones, Tuba and Orchestra" (1985); a "Concerto for Orchestra" (1976); and two symphonies (1981 and 1988).