The music of Paisano Suite was composed in 1982 for the Austin Ballet Theatre on a grant from the City of Austin. The resulting ballet was produced in February, 1983 under the title Ballabile, with choreography by ABT Artistic Director Stanley Hall.

This music was originally scored for a small pit orchestra, and it was only in 2012 that I shortened and re-orchestrated it to create this suite for full orchestra. Since the original title is a term used specifically for dance music, and the new version of the work is meant to be a concert suite rather than a ballet, I also re-titled it after the Paisano Ranch, in the central Texas Hill Country, where it was originally composed and which served as its inspiration.

The entire nearly twenty-minute suite is actually based on a fairly modest amount of musical material and the eight short movements are thematically all very closely related. The overall framework is highly unified in that way.

Scored for woodwinds, horns, and trumpets in pairs; 1 trombone, timpani, and strings.

The individual movements, with their locations on the audio track, are listed below.

1. Prelude 0:00 2. Scherzo 1:29 3. Berceuse 3:00 4. Fugue 5:43 5. Pastorale 7:38 6. Caprice 10:10 7. Romanza 12:00 8. Finale 16:36

Four movements of this suite are also available in a transcription for symphonic band titled Shades of Paisano.