Number Man (a cantata for the ghost of J. S. Bach) is scored for oboe/English horn, solo voices, and optional chorus (the chorus is omitted in the taped performance.) Work on the piece was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. From one point of view, Number Man is a cantata for oboe with voices obligato. From another, it is an oboe concerto accompanied by voices. The text is by Carl Sandburg and is given on the following page. Number Man is dedicated to oboist Kathy Geisler and was inspired by her love of the Bach Cantatas. The movements of the piece are as follows:

I. Prelude

IIa. Fives and Tens
IIb. Pastorale

IIIa. Sixes and Sevens
IIIb. Burlesca

IVa. Twos and Fours
IVb. Musette

Va. Eights and Nines
Vb. March

VI. All the Numbers

VII. A Million Cipher Silences

VIII. Love Numbers, Luck Numbers

IX. Goodbye Number and Invocation