Drummer Jason Nicholson to Guest with USU Jazz Big Bands

Utah State University’s Jazz Orchestra welcomes drummer Jason Nicholson in its first concert of the 2009-2010 academic year Oct. 14 in the Performance Hall at 7:30 p.m. on the USU campus (approximately 1090 E. 675 North, Logan).

 

Nicholson joined the faculty in the Department of Music, Caine School of the Arts, as the new professor of percussion.

 

Tickets for the opening jazz concert are available at the Caine School of the Arts Box Office in the Chase Fine Arts Center, Room 138-B, 435-797-8022, or online and are $8 for adults and free to USU students with a valid ID. Other discounts are also available.

 

New to the Music Department this year, Nicholson will perform with the USU Jazz Orchestra at the first big band concert of the year. The concert also features the USU Jazz Ensemble, directed by Todd Fallis.

 

“We are very excited about Jason Nicholson joining the music department at Utah State,” said Director of Jazz Studies Jon Gudmundson. “Dr. Nicholson has studied with some of the very best teachers in the nation, and his experiences not only rubbed off on his playing, which is excellent, but on his teaching as well. From a pool of highly qualified applicants vying to take over the percussion position here, Jason stood out in many ways, but especially in his teaching. We are thrilled to have him here.”

 

Nicholson received a doctorate of musical arts in percussion performance from the University of North Texas. He has been an active performer in orchestral, jazz, chamber, solo, pop and world genres throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and Charlotte metropolitan regions. He has performed with notable groups, including the Charlotte Symphony, the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra, the Charlotte Repertory Big Band, the Charles Craig Jazz Trio and the Dallas Wind Symphony. In addition to his training on traditional Western percussion instruments, Nicholson has extensive experience in Afro-Cuban drumming and African Drumming.

 

Nicholson will join the Jazz Orchestra for its closing selection, Eric Richards’s Entropical Paradise. Percussionists Landon Putnam and Scott Allred will join in on Latin percussion for the piece.

 

The Jazz Orchestra will perform a mix of old and new pieces, including the old swing era vocal hit Stuff Like That There featuring vocalist Liz Woolley, and the classic Count Basie version of I Can’t Stop Loving You, transcribed by USU’s former Director of Jazz Studies Larry Smith. On the newer side, the band will perform Fred Sturm’s Take It All, which is a rather modernized version of All of Me.

 

The USU Jazz Ensemble will perform a variety of standard jazz works on its first concert of the season. Such standards include Neil Hefti’s Kid From Red Bank, referring to Count Basie and The Creeper. The band will also perform a light funk arrangement of Miles Davis’s Blue in Green. Former SLC trombonist Chris Braymen’s original composition In the Line of Sight is a quick-paced bebop style band feature, originally performed several years ago when he was a guest artist for the USU Jazz Program. Finally, the band will perform the Latin standard Mambo Inn, which is sure to get the audience on its feet.

 

The Caine School of the Arts at USU presents more than 200 events each academic year. Information on coming events is available online at its Web site.

 

 

Contact: Jon Gudmundson, jon.gudmundson@usu.edu