Concerto for Marimba and Band is a twenty minute single-movement composition that was commissioned in 1989 by James Bankhead for the United States Air Force Band in Washington D.C.  It was premiered by the United States Air Force Band in November 1990 at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was conducted by Steven Grimo with Randal Eyles performing the solo marimba part.  This was Maslankaâs fifth piece for marimba, his second marimba concerto, and his first major piece written in Missoula, Montana.  Maslanka moved to Montana in July of 1990 and composed Concerto for Marimba and Band in a six-week time period.  The style of writing shows a major departure from his earlier works demonstrating a simpler, lighter approach to texture and larger spacious gestures to match his feelings about his new Montana surroundings. 
The concerto is scored for the specific instrumentation of the United States Air Force Band.  The Air Force Band features three cellos and, although Maslanka comments that the cello sound is important to this piece, he has cued the part with other instruments for the convenience of bands that do not have cellos available to them.  The score also calls for the double bass to reinforce the low range.  Although Maslanka often includes a piano sonority in his scoring for band or wind ensemble, he has chosen not to use that sonority here and instead exploits a variety of keyboard percussion sonorities.  Varieties of impressionistic effects occur such as harp and string harmonics, stopped French horn, and the frequent use of muted brass sonorities.  Although Concerto for Marimba and Band includes technical challenges for every instrument, the clarinet parts are especially difficult idiomatically.  This can be attributed to the fact that Maslanka was originally a clarinet player.  Concerto for Marimba and Band requires the following wind and string instruments:
(numbers of players per section are indicated in parentheses) 
Flutes (3)
Piccolo
Oboe (2)
 Oboe 2 doubles English horn
Eb Clarinet
Bb Clarinet (3 sections; total 13)
Bass Clarinet
Bb Contrabass Clarinet
Bassoons (2)
Contrabassoons
Alto Saxophone (2)
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
French Horns (4)
Cornets (3)
Trumpets (2)
Trombones (2)
Bass Trombone
Euphonium (Baritone)(2)
Tuba (2)

Cello (3)
Double Bass 
Harp
The wide array of percussion instruments used throughout the work supply the music with a wealth of provocative rhythms, accents, colors, and unique effects.
The keyboard percussion instruments, including xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, crotales, and chimes, contribute significantly to the melodic elements throughout the composition.  Unlike his earlier Arcadia II, Maslanka uses timpani to reinforce the bass line of this work.  His intimate knowledge of the percussion instruments is apparent in his writing parts for gongs and tam-tam.  Although Maslanka takes full advantage of all the percussive sonorities available to him, the composition does not require any exotic or unusual percussion instruments.  Unlike Arcadia II, in which Maslanka includes a marimba in the percussion ensemble, Concerto for Marimba and Band does not include a marimba in order to avoid conflicts with the soloist's timbre.  Maslanka also does not use the double bass or cello bow on cymbals, vibraphone, gongs or marimba bars as he did in Arcadia II.  Maslankaâs familiarity with the instruments of the percussion family is apparent as he gives frequent detailed instructions on mallet selection, how to achieve each sound, and hand or pedal dampening suggestions on the vibraphone. For ease of performance, the score lists the instruments in order of appearance and prominently marks those that can be shared.
Timpani

Percussion 1

Vibraphone 
Bass Drum 
Snare Drum (shared) 
Crash Cymbals
4 Tom-Toms (shared) 

Percussion 2

Xylophone
3 Suspended Cymbals (shared) 
Medium Gong (shared) 
Sleigh Bells
Bass Drum (shared)

Percussion 3
Glockenspiel
Crotales
Tam-Tam
Medium Gong (shared)
4 Tom-Toms (shared)
2 Bongos, Med. Tom-Tom, Tenor Drum (shared)
Ratchet
Large Suspended Cymbal (shared)
Chimes
Snare Drum (shared)

Compared to many of Maslankaâs other works, Concerto for Marimba and Band is a more subdued, impressionistic sounding work.  Maslanka has written:

This concerto could easily be subtitled "rhapsody" or "fantasy" because of its meditative and free-flowing quality.  It is easy to describe the overall shape--an extended slow to moderate opening section, an explosive fast section, a quiet closing section.  Less easy to describe are the internal workings of the piece.  My concerto is a continuous exposition of a large number of melodies, all growing out of a single impulse.  There is no development in the classical sense, but rather a flowing movement, a meditation which travels quietly and sometimes forcefully from thought to thought, often extremely simple, with pleasure taken in individual colors, shapes, and combinations as they appear and dissolve. 

In a recent newspaper interview, he further comments: 

Itâs a single movement piece and moves in a very free way.  Thereâs no story to this piece.  Often there's a story to a piece, but the emotional, evocative characteristics make up their own story.

Concerto for Marimba and Band is much more a dialogue between the instruments of the ensemble and the soloist than Arcadia II.  In Concerto for Marimba and Band there are numerous sections in which the solo voice is tacet whereas in Arcadia II, the soloist is highly involved in almost every measure of the work.  The overall architecture of the work is a slow section followed by a fast section with a closing return to the slow section.  The woodwind colors are brought forward in the slow sections while in the fast section the brass colors are featured.  The melodic themes appear in different settings and are often separated by cadenza-like events scored for either the soloist or the colors of the ensemble.  In Arcadia II, Maslanka often overlaps phrases giving the work a seamless yet somewhat nervous energy.  In contrast, Concerto for Marimba and Band is written with very clearly delineated phrases and sections.  Maslanka acknowledges how his composing has changed since his move to Montana and he has stated in a recent interview that:

There is an evolution that has taken place from one [of my compositions] to the next. . . . toward a more consonant and open kind of sound.  This is carried forward even further in the new works such as Concerto for Marimba and Band.