Big Band Jazz at HSU December 6 and 8

Jazz of different styles and from different eras get the big band treatment in two concerts by HSU ensembles: the AM Jazz Band on Thursday December 6 and the Jazz Orchestra on Saturday December 8.

The AM Jazz Band plays tunes by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington, as well as by John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. They also feature an original composition by Armando Rivera called “Pescados Frescos.”

In their Saturday concert the HSU Jazz Orchestra performs a medley compiled by contemporary “free jazz” pioneer Carla Bley of two of her compositions plus an arrangement of a hymn by the iconoclastic American composer Carl Ruggles.

The concert also features tunes by Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt. Though Benny Carter arranged his tune “Doozy” for big band in the 1980s, Jazz Orchestra director Dan Aldag calls it “a foundational piece” that has all the features of classic 1930s big band music, including room for several solos.

The AM Jazz Band performs on Thursday December 6 and the Jazz Orchestra performs on Saturday December 8. Both concerts begin at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7/3/free to HSU students with ID, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by the HSU Music Department. 

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.