USU Big Band Jazz Concert Swings Onto the Stage

The jazz bands from Utah State University’s Caine College of the Arts and the Department of Music kick off their 2010-2011 concert season with a Big Band Jazz Concert Wednesday, Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m., at the USU Performance Hall.

 

The jazz bands include the USU Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Todd Fallis, and Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Jon Gudmundson. A guest singer and small combo groups will also perform.

 

Tickets are $8 for general admission and free for USU students with presentation of ID. Tickets are available at the Caine College of the Arts Ticket Office, Chase Fine Arts Center, Room 139-B, or online (arts.usu.edu). Tickets are also available at the door performance night.

 

“The jazz program is bigger than ever this year,” Fallis said. “We have had more students audition for the two jazz bands than ever before and we have added a fourth jazz combo to the program as well as a super sax combo which will perform for the combo concert later this semester.”

 

Fallis said the Oct. 13 concert features an array of jazz styles from the 1930s through today.

 

The Jazz Ensemble and Fallis kick things off with the jazz standard All or Nothing At All, followed by Count Basie’s rarely-heard jersey bounce tune Good Bait.

 

Liz Woolley will guest-sing Cole Porter’s famous I Get A Kick Out of You, followed by Mike Benson’s rendition of the ballad All My Life by Sammy Nestico.

 

The Jazz Ensemble also performs contemporary music, including Chick Corea’s Electric City from his 1980s Electric Band.

 

The concert features guitar solo work by Clovis Ward and Greg Newbold.

 

The Jazz Ensemble closes its portion of the program with Blues in Hoss Flat, a Count Basie blues classic featuring several soloists.

 

The USU Jazz Orchestra with Gudmundson also performs a wide-ranging program of jazz classics, from Duke Ellington’s Main Stem to Marcus Miller and David Sanborn’s funky Snakes.

 

Other selections with the Jazz Orchestra include Gerry Mulligan’s arrangement of Where or When, Joe Henderson’s bossa nova Recordame, Randy Weston’s mysterious waltz Little Niles and an arrangement of Rodgers and Hart’s Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered that features the singing of Liz Woolley.

 

“It is an exciting year for USU Jazz,” said Gudmundson, who also is director of jazz studies at USU. “We are offering our usual series of concerts in October and December and will have our Jazz at the Sky Club dinner and dance fund raiser in February. Our slate of guest artists for our April concert includes the great saxophonist Dave Pietro and two guest artists from Italy, bandleader Marco Renzi and clarinetist Bepi D’Amato.”

 

For more information about upcoming music events at the Caine College of the Arts, visit its website (listed below) or call the Caine College of the Arts Box Office at 435-797-8022.

 

 

Writer: Courtney Lewis, Caine College of the Arts, 435-797-9203, courtney.lewis@usu.edu