Thursday, December 06, 2012

AM Jazz and Jazz Orchestra Concert Notes by Dan Aldag, Director


On Thursday (Dec. 6) the AM Jazz Band is playing the usual assortment of jazz classics in a variety of styles: "Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West" by John Lewis (of the Modern Jazz Quartet); "Nardis" by Miles Davis; "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" by Charles Mingus; "Black Butterfly" by Duke Ellington, "Foot Pattin' Time" by Lou Donaldson and "Sweet Georgia Bright" by Charles Lloyd and one original composition for big band, "Pescados Frescos" by Armando Rivera.

On Saturday (Dec. 8) the HSU Jazz Orchestra performs:

A medley compiled and arranged by Carla Bley of "Exaltation", "Religious Experience" and "Major". The latter two are Bley's composition and "Exaltation" is a hymn tune written by the iconoclastic American composer Carl Ruggles as a memorial to his late wife.

"Manteca" by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo. This is one of the first Afro-Cuban jazz compositions, written for Gillespie's big band in 1947. We're playing the same arrangement that Gillespie's band recorded.

"Manoir De Mes Reves", composed by Django Reinhardt and arranged for Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band by Bob Brookmeyer.

"Tijuana Gift Shop", a Charles Mingus composition written for his album Tijuana Moods. We're playing the arrangement done for the Mingus Big Band by Michael Phillip Mossman.

"Bemsha Swing", written by Thelonious Monk and arranged by the legendary Bill Holman for his own band about ten years ago.

"Doozy", by Benny Carter, one of the architects of the jazz big band through his writing for Fletcher Henderson's band in the early 1930s. "Doozy" comes from later in Carter's long career. He first recorded it in a small group in 1961. He arranged it for big band in the late 1980s, and that is the version we'll be playing.

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