The Last Jazz of the Year at HSU

Two student ensembles of Big Band size strut their stuff this weekend at the Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU, in the last jazz concerts of the calendar year.

The AM Jazz Band plays a program of Big Band numbers and jazz classics arranged for band on Thursday, December 7th, at 8 PM. The program includes “Boogie Stop Shuffle” by Charles Mingus, “Oleo” by Miles Davis and “Chelsea Bridge” by Billy Strayhorn, most famous for his compositions for Duke Ellington.

The band also lets loose in Afro-Cuban style with tunes by Ray Ortiz and Lars Halle.

On Saturday at 8PM, the HSU Jazz Orchestra takes the Fulkerson Hall stage, comprised of the best student jazz players at HSU. They bring the Big Band sound to a classic Miles Davis tune, “So What,” “in a new and very different arrangement by John La Barbera,” according to HSU visiting assistant professor of Music,Dan Aldag, director of both jazz bands.

The orchestra features "E's Flat, Ah's Flat, Too" by Charles Mingus, arranged by HSU student and trumpet player in the band, Tommy Obeso. Other tunes include “Down for the Count,” originally played by the Count Basie Orchestra, and “Butter,” a tribute to the great jazz trombonist, Quentin “Butter” Jackson, who played with Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus.

The Jazz Orchestra also ventures into Afro-Cuban territory, with "Carnegie Hall 100", written by Chico O'Farrill for the Mario Bauza Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, to be played at the 100th anniversary of the opening of Carnegie Hall.

Both concerts are priced at $6 general, $2 student and senior, and free to HSU students with ID.

Media

The Lumberjack 12/06/2006 "AM Band, Orchestra get jazzy" by Bryan Radzin.