OK. He is a musician. Judging from the quilt you have created for him, he is a bit funky. Instead of plain sashing, how about making the blocks float with shadows? Use black sashing strips as planned, but give them bright orange "shadows".
Here is little tutorial that explains what I'm talking about. I've done several styles of blocks this way and it always looks good to me.
http://madanquilting.blogspot.com/20...-tutorial.html