HSU Jazz Orchestra’s Positive Sweat and Awful Coffee

 HSU Jazz Orchestra cooks “Awful Coffee” and exudes “Positive Sweat” in its adventurous concert of contemporary big band jazz, with originals by current and recent HSU students, on Saturday May 7 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

 “Awful Coffee” is by contemporary jazz composer Carla Bley, from her album tribute to the Big Band era. “Walking By Flashlight” by Maria Schneider is from this year’s Grammy winner for a large ensemble jazz album. 

 Other selections on the Jazz Orchestra playlist include an Ellington-inflected piece by David Berger, Pedro Giraudo’s "El Cuento Que Te Cuento," a medley of “Samba de Orfeo” from the 1959 film “Black Orpheus” and a Louis Armstrong tune from the late 1920s by acclaimed arranger Oded Lev-Ari. 

 “Positive Sweat (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Funk)” by Jazz Orchestra member Kyle McInnis is one of three HSU originals. The others are by recent alums Ryan Woempner (“Jibber Jabber”) and Dan Fair (“Omar.”) 

 The HSU Jazz Orchestra performs on Saturday May 7 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8, $5 seniors and children, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music department.

Media: Times-Standard Urge, Mad River Union, Humboldt State Now.

Jazz Orchestra Concert Notes

Program with comments by Jazz Orchestra director Dan Aldag:

"Walking By Flashlight" by Maria Schneider. Recorded on her album The Thompson Fields, which won the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording this year.

 "Awful Coffee" by Carla Bley. Bley has been a major composer and arranger in jazz since the 1960s. This piece comes from her album Appearing Nightly, a kind of concept album that hearkens back to the big bands of the 1940s and 1950s, and is filled with quotes from old jazz tunes, and a few non-jazz songs.

 "Hindustan" by David Berger. Berger is the world's foremost authority on the music of Duke Ellington, and he also leads his own band in New York City. He composed this piece for his band, and it shows the influence of both Ellington and Gil Evans.

 "El Cuento Que Te Cuento" ("Storytelling") by Pedro Giraudo. Giraudo is an Argentinean bassist and composer now living in New York who fuses the American big band jazz tradition with Argentinean rhythms. This was recorded on Giraudo's album Cuentos.

In the liner notes for that album., Giraudo wrote of this piece, "Inspired by a line in a poem by Marianela Fernandez, my wife, this tune is a musical representation of human interactions. Every time we communicate with people verbally or musically, what is being said or played is different from what is understood or interpreted by the listener, sometimes slightly, other times significantly. This piece presents many repetitions that are altered by small melodic, harmonic or timbre changes."

 "Samba de Orfeo"/"Struttin' With Some Barbecue,"a medley of two tunes.The first was written by the Brazilian guitarist and composer Luiz Bonfa as part of the soundtrack for the film Black Orpheus in 1959. The latter tune was composed by Louis Armstrong and recorded by him and his Hot Five in the late 1920s. The arrangement combining the two was written by Oded Lev-Ari for the Anat Cohen album Noir.

Three pieces by current students or recent alums: "Positive Sweat or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Funk" by Kyle McInnis "Jibber Jabber" by Ryan Woempner "Omar" by Dan Fair.

Jazz Combos: From Winter in Arcata to the Sunny Side of the Street 

Four bands playing jazz classics, newer jazz and HSU originals perform in the HSU Jazz Combos concert on Friday April 8 in Fulkerson Recital Hall. 

The band Trumpet Pancake features two of the more renowned HSU horn players, Andrew Henderson (trumpet) and Craig Hull (trombone), plus David Semon (guitar), Eric Simpson (bass) and Jacob Partida (drums.) They play tunes by Portland-born jazz star Esperanza Spalding and the fusion band Snarky Puppy as well as a David Semon original entitled “Winter in Arcata.” 

 A medley about sunshine that includes the classic “Sunny Side of the Street” highlights the 2:00 Band set. Their other tunes are “Nature Boy,” the 1940s standard by hippie pioneer Eden Ahbez, and “So Beautiful” by singer-songwriter Musiq Soulchild. Alan Spencer plays tenor sax, Leo Plummer plays guitar, Jared Margen is on bass and Eric Tolfa on drums. 

 Old Hat performs originals by its bassist Ryan Woempner and HSU student Aaron Katz as well as Chick Corea’s “Spain” and a tune composed in 1917 by big band progenitor Art Hickman. Besides Woempner, the band features Kyle McInnis on saxophones, Jake Burns on guitar and Wes Singleton on drums.

 Hindsight Bias plays “Peace” by Horace Silver, “One Finger Snap” by Herbie Hancock and “Captain Marvel” by Chick Corea. The band is Max Marlowe (piano,) Abraham Loaiza (tenor sax,) Ricardo Cueva (bass) and Felipe Pezzoli (drums.) Skyler McCormick sings one number each with Hindsight Bias and the 2:00 Band.

 HSU Jazz Combos perform on Friday April 8 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8, $5 seniors and children, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music department.

Media: Mad River Union, Times-Standard Urge, North Coast Journal The Set List, HSU Now.

Photo above: Jacob Partida, David Semon, Eric Simpson, Andrew Henderson and Craig Hull are Trumpet Pancake, one of four bands performing in the HSU Jazz Combos concert on Friday April 8.

Jazz Combos: The Program

Trumpet Pancake

"Mela" by Esperanza Spalding
 "Winter In Arcata" by David Semon
 "Binky" from the group Snarky Puppy (composed by Michael League)










Old Hat

"Skyhook" by Ryan Woempner
 "Spain" by Chick Corea
 "Rose Room" by Art Hickman
"Waltz For Lily" by Aaron Katz (HSU student and former Jazz Combos member.)

The 2:00 Band

"Nature Boy" by Eden Ahbez
 a Sun Medley ("Everybody Loves The Sunshine", "Sunny", and "On The Sunny Side Of The Street") by Roy Ayers, Bobby Hebb, and Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields, respectively (although the last may have actually been written by Fats Waller, who sold the rights.)

So Beautiful by Musiq Soulchild (composed by JR Hutson and Soulchild)


Hindsight Bias

"Peace" by Horace Silver
 "One Finger Snap" by Herbie Hancock
 "Captain Marvel" by Chick Corea

Jazz Orchestra All Billy Strayhorn Tribute

 HSU Jazz Orchestra honors Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington Orchestra arranger and composer, celebrating the centennial of his birth with an all-Strayhorn program, including a never before-performed arrangement, on Saturday December 12 at Fulkerson Recital Hall. 

Strayhorn was a classically trained musician from Pittsburgh who composed, co-composed or arranged much of Ellington’s music for nearly 30 years. His best-known tune is “Take the ‘A’ Train,” Ellington’s theme song.

"Strayhorn didn't receive nearly the acclaim and fame that Ellington did,” Jazz Orchestra director Dan Aldag said. “Strayhorn was a shy, quiet man who was happy to remain in the shadows, in part because staying out of the public eye allowed him to live openly as a gay man at a time when most gay men were deeply closeted.” 

“We're playing everything exactly as Strayhorn wrote it,” Aldag notes. “Parts were either copied from the original Ellington band parts or painstakingly transcribed from Ellington recordings.” 

So in addition to “Take the ‘A’ Train” and other famous pieces, the Jazz Orchestra plays Strayhorn tunes that the Ellington band never recorded.

Even the familiar “Lush Life” is performed in an early and unrecorded arrangement. “I believe our performance will be the first done with a vocalist—Olivia Bright—singing Strayhorn’s remarkable lyrics,” Aldag said. 

The concert includes the last two pieces that Strayhorn wrote for Ellington, before his death in 1967. In addition to vocalist Olivia Bright, performers featured on various tunes include pianist Max Marlowe, guitarist and vocalist Kenneth Bozanich, alto saxophonist Kyle McInnis, trombonist Craig Hull and trumpeter Andrew Henderson.

The HSU Jazz Orchestra performs on Saturday December 12 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets are $8, $5 seniors and children, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door.  Produced by HSU Music department.

Jazz Orchestra: Director's Notes

Notes by Dan Aldag

The Jazz Orchestra concert celebrates the centennial of Billy Strayhorn, who was born on Nov. 29th, 1915. Strayhorn is best known as the composer of the song "Lush Life" and "Take The 'A' Train", the Duke Ellington Orchestra's theme song, but Strayhorn composed or arranged a wealth of material for the Ellington band from 1939 until his death in 1967.

 The Ellington/Strayhorn relationship was an extraordinarily complex one. Ellington is almost universally recognized as the greatest jazz composer of all time, and he also employed a composer who was perhaps his equal for over half of his career.

Strayhorn didn't receive nearly the acclaim and fame that Ellington did, partly because it was Ellington's name in lights, partly because Ellington was given credit for some of Strayhorn's work, but also because the two men, as close as they were, had very different temperaments.

 Ellington was a charming, charismatic showman who basked in the public's attention. Strayhorn was a shy, quiet man who was happy to remain in the shadows, in part because staying out of the public eye allowed him to live openly as a gay man at a time when most gay men were deeply closeted.

 We're playing everything exactly as Strayhorn wrote it. Parts were either copied from the original Ellington band parts or painstakingly transcribed from Ellington recordings.

We'll play "Take The 'A' Train" and "Lush Life", of course, with the latter in an arrangement that Strayhorn may have written for the Ellington band the night he first met Ellington. The Ellington band never recorded it, though. It has been recorded recently as an instrumental, but I believe our performance will be the first done with a vocalist (Olivia Bright) singing Strayhorn's remarkable lyrics.

 We'll do one other vocal, with our usual guitarist, Kenneth Bozanich, putting down his instrument to sing "Flamingo" in the 1940 arrangement that first brought Strayhorn attention.

 We're performing two rare works that were written for the Ellington band but never recorded by them. "Tonk" is basically a short piano concerto Strayhorn designed to showcase Ellington's instrumental abilities. Our pianist, Max Marlowe, will take the soloist's role. "Pentonsilic", which dates to 1941, is a stunning 12-minute work that demonstrated that even at the start of his career, Strayhorn had a complete mastery of form and development.

 "Chelsea Bridge" is a lovely 3-minute tone poem inspired by a Whistler painting. "Midriff" is a zesty swinger with a very well-designed architecture underlying it.

In the Fifties and Sixties, Ellington and Strayhorn wrote a number of suites, album-length collections of short pieces unified around a single idea. We're playing Strayhorn pieces from two of those suites. "Half the Fun" comes from the Shakespeare-inspired Such Sweet Thunder, and "Isfahan" is part of the Far East Suite. The latter features the band's lead alto saxophonist, Kyle McInnis.

 Ellington and Strayhorn also collaborated on an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, and we'll perform the "Overture" from that.

 The concert will include the last two pieces Strayhorn composed for the Ellington band, "The Intimacy of the Blues" and "Blood Count". "Intimacy..." is a small-group tune that will spotlight the band's lead horn players, McInnis, Craig Hull on trombone, and Andrew Henderson on trumpet. "Blood Count", composed while Strayhorn was in the final stages of the cancer that killed him, is a heart-wrenching, albeit mostly subdued, raging against the dying of the light that will once again feature McInnis.

The concert will end on a life-affirming note, however, with the joyous "Raincheck", first recorded by the Ellington band in 1941, and re-recorded by them on Strayhorn tribute album they recorded shortly after the composer's death, ...And His Mother Called Him Bill.--Dan Aldag

Additional links:
official Billy Strayhorn website
Strayhorn bio at Black Past.org
and at Pittsburgh History

Party On Endor with HSU Jazz Orchestra 

HSU Jazz Orchestra plays new tunes by Arcata’s recording artist Nathan Parker Smith and band grad Dan Fair as well as student originals and jazz classics of several eras on Saturday May 9 in Fulkerson Recital Hall. 

Now based in New York, Nathan Parker Smith grew up in Arcata. The Jazz Orchestra performs “Rhetoric Machine” from Not Dark Yet, an album by the Nathan Parker Smith Large Ensemble released in October.

 Also highlighting the Jazz Orchestra spring concert is a new tune by HSU grad Dan Fair called “Amazonia,” as well as his arrangement of “Summer Song” by steelband composer Cliff Alexis.

Current Jazz Orchestra members contribute two tunes to the program: “Party on Endor” by alto sax player Kyle McInnis, and “Fire Crayon Drawing” by bassist Ryan Woempner. Baritone saxophonist Lauren Strella steps to the microphone to sing on her arrangement of Herbie Hancock’s “Butterfly.”

 Jazz classics are not neglected when the band performs a 1960s arrangement of the Duke Ellington standard “Perdido.” Miles Davis is represented by a tune he played in the 60s (“Joshua”) and another from the 80s (“Tutu.”) Saxophonist Kyle McInnis is featured on “Roman Notes” by contemporary big band jazz artist John LaBarbera. 

HSU Jazz Orchestra performs on Saturday May 9 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall. Tickets from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door: $8 general, $5 seniors and children, HSU students with ID admitted free. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music department.

Media: Times-Standard Urge Magazine, Mad River Union, Humboldt State Now.

Darius Brotman

Allison & Brotman

Local jazz musicians Darius Brotman (piano) and Bill Allison (vocals) perform improvisations on jazz standards in a rare appearance on Friday, March 14 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8 general, $3 student/seniors from HSU ticket office (826-3928) or at the door. This Guest Artist concert is presented by the HSU Department of Music.

Bill Allison

So Rare: Local Jazz Artists Brotman and Allison Perform

Local jazz musicians Darius Brotman and Bill Allison will make a rare appearance performing improvisations of jazz standards, on Friday, March 14 at the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Host of the “Gone Sides” jazz show on KHSU, Darius Brotman has been playing jazz piano in local clubs for some 20 years. With a degree in music composition from the University of California at Berkeley, Brotman’s extended jazz suite, “The Rambler,” was performed at HSU.

He returns to the Fulkerson Recital Hall stage with vocalist Bill Allison in a program of improvisations on jazz standards that he prefers not to announce in advance.

Bill Allison is familiar to North Coast generations as a teacher as well as performer. He currently teaches at the HSU Music Academy, College of the Redwoods, and in many Humboldt County schools. Allison has a BA degree in vocal jazz from Cornish College of the Arts, and a Master of Arts in Education from HSU.

Brotman and Allison perform on Friday, March 14 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 student/seniors from the HSU ticket office (826-3928) or at the door. This Guest Artist concert is presented by the HSU Department of Music.

Jazz Orchestra, group shot, left side (see below for
the other half)

Madrigal Singers and Mad River Transit

HSU Madrigal Singers perform a cappella madrigals, funky jazz and music from the 1940s, and the MRT Singers do blues, swing and ballads with a 3-piece rhythm section, in a jazz extravaganza on Friday, May 4 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets $6 general, $2 student/seniors, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Harley Muilenburg directing.

AM Jazz Big Band

From Coltrane and Mingus to Alice in Wonderland, the AM Jazz Big Band swings the classics on Thursday, May 3 at 8PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets $6 general, $2 student/seniors, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Paul Cummings conducting.

Jazz Orchestra, right half, with Dan Aldag

Band, Orchestra and Voices: A Jazz Weekend at HSU


The HSU school year closes with a weekend of jazz, May 3 through 5: the Big Band sounds of the AM Jazz Band on Thursday, May 3, a jazz vocal extravaganza with the Madrigal Singers and MRT Singers on Friday, May 4, and the HSU Jazz Orchestra playing classics and originals on Saturday, May 5.

All concerts are at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. Tickets for each are $6 general, $2 students and seniors, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.

On Thursday, May 3, the AM Jazz Band begins and ends their evening with classic compositions by jazz greats John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, both first recorded in 1957. “Moment’s Notice” by saxophonist John Coltrane (from his album, Blue Train) exemplifies his “sheet of sound” composition style of the late 50s. The HSU band plays an arrangement by Mark Taylor. “Haitian Fight Song,” heard on The Clown album, remains one of the best known and most frequently played compositions by bassist Charles Mingus.

Between these two classics, the AM Jazz Band plays the theme from the 1951 Walt Disney movie classic, Alice in Wonderland, by Bob Hilliard and Sammy Fain, arranged for big band by Roger Holmes. The rest of the program consists of works written specifically for big band by contemporary composers: “Dark Side of the Blues” by Andy Classen, “A Warm Breeze” by Sammy Nestico and the Latin beat of “Revenge of the Chili Pepper” by Doug Beach and George Shutack.

This semester the AM Jazz Band is directed by HSU Music Department Assistant Professor Paul Cummings.


On Friday, May 4, the HSU Madrigal Singers perform a cappella madrigals, funky jazz and music from the 1940s, followed by the Mad River Transit Singers with a program of blues, swing and ballads, in their combined spring concert.

After warming up with some a cappella madrigals, the Madrigal Singers’ jazz set includes “Java Jive,” “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” and “Frim Fram Sauce.” John Chernoff provides piano accompaniment.

The MRT singers begin with a blues tribute (“Scat Blues in D,” “Dupree’s Diamond Blues” and “Bluesette,”), and perform classics by George Gershwin (“I Got Plenty of Nothin’”), Harold Arlen (“If I Only Had a Brain” from The Wizard of Oz) and Charlie Parker (“Au Privave.”)

Mindy Willens and Bernie Steinberg combine for a vocal duet on Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird,” and the group performs the legendary “Harlem Nocturne,” written by Earle Hagen in 1939 and arranged by Michele Weir, with a sax solo by Matthew Brogdon. MRT is accompanied by a three-piece rhythm section: Joel Bettencourt (piano), Robert Amrkhan (bass) and Jonathan Kipp (drums.)

The evening ends as it began—with some a cappella singing: “Acappella in Acapulco” by Anders Edenroth. HSU Professor Harley Muilenburg directs both ensembles.

On Saturday, May 5, the HSU Jazz Orchestra features student and alumni works: "Song For Yong Zoo" by Youn Joo Sim, "Adamra" by Simon Lucas, "Alone In The Fishbowl" by HSU alum (and Eureka High grad) Jared Coyle, and "E's Flat, Ah's Flat, Too", a Charles Mingus composition arranged by HSU student Tommy Obeso. Other music on the program includes compositions by Dave Holland, Gerald Wilson and Duke Ellington. The Jazz Orchestra is comprised of the best student jazz players, and is conducted by Assistant Professor Dan Aldag of the HSU Music Department.

JAZZ COMBOS

Jazz classics (Monk, Miles, Bill Evans & Sun Ra) and original tunes from HSU's three student Jazz Combos on Friday, April 20 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $6 general, $2 students/seniors, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Music Department Production; Dan Aldag, Artistic Director.

From Monk to Miles, Bill Evans to Sun Ra: Jazz Combos Explore the Classics

Three student jazz combos, selected by audition as the best players, will perform their unique combinations of jazz classics and original tunes on Friday, April 20 at HSU.

The combos are named for the day of the week they rehearse. The Monday Combo performs Bill Evans' "Interplay", Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Meditation", Miles Davis's "Donna Lee" and “A Sunny Day in Stony Brae” by group pianist Aber Miller.The Wednesday Combo plays "Solar" by Chuck Wayne, "Good Bait" by Tadd Dameron and "La Samba" by Ray Obiedo.The Friday Combo performs "Brainville" by Sun Ra, "Brilliant Corners" by Thelonious Monk and "Hibiscus" by their drummer, Simon Lucas.

The players in the Monday Combo are Sky Miller (tenor sax), Ali Chaudhary (guitar), Aber Miller (piano), Michael Dieter (bass) and Jonathan Kipp (drums.)

The Wednesday Combo is Josh Nelson (tenor sax and flute), John Miller (piano), Alex Hernandez (bass) and John Evans (drums.)

The Friday Combo is Matt Brogdon (tenor sax), Joel Bettencourt (piano), Bobby Amirkhan (bass), and Simon Lucas (drums.)

Jazz Combos perform at 8 PM on Friday, April 20 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $6 general, $2 students/seniors, free to HSU students with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Music Department Production; Dan Aldag, Artistic Director.

Media: Arcata Eye.

AM Jazz Band