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Cal Poly Humboldt Wind Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra

Fulkerson Recital Hall

The Department of Dance, Music and Theatre at Cal Poly Humboldt presents the “Jazz Orchestra and Wind Ensemble.” The Jazz Orchestra is led by band leader Dan Aldag and the Wind Ensemble is under the direction of Paul Cummings. Join us Saturday, February 24th at 8pm at the Fulkerson Recital Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt. Tickets are $10 General, $5 Children & Seniors, and $FREE for Cal Poly Humboldt students with ID. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at centerarts.humboldt.edu. From the “All Events” drop down menu select “Department of Dance, Music, and Theatre” and select your event.

The Wind Ensemble begins the program with Dance Sequence by Marco Putz “Commissioned by the WASBE School Band Network, led by Richard Jones and premiered at the WASBE Conference in Sweden in 2003 by the Florida State University Band conducted by Mark Crompton. There are three short movements, all inspired by the dance. The first, entitled Starting Up, is marked Allegro Vivo, and is mostly in 3/4 time. Syncopated block chords and a chromatic theme heard first on muted trumpet build with some spicy harmonies to an intense climax. This is followed by Folk Tune, an Allegretto giocoso movement, with solos for trombone, oboe, and flute as it explores a succession of interesting metrical and coloristic ideas.

Next up is Aaron Copland’s Down a Country Lane transcribed by Merlin Patterson. “The piece was commissioned by Life magazine in 1962 in hopes of making quality music available to the common pianist and student. The work was featured along with an article title ‘Our Bumper Crop of Beginning Piano Players’. The article explains, ‘Down a Country Lane fills a musical gap: It is among the few modern pieces specially written for young piano students by a major composer.’ Copland is quoted in the article of saying ‘Even third-year students will have to practice before trying it in public.’ The band arrangement was completed by Merlin Patterson in 1988. Patterson specialized in Copland transcriptions. Copland himself spoke of Patterson’s excellent work upon the completion of Down a Country Lane, saying that he produced ‘a careful, sensitive, and most satisfying extension of the mood and content of the original.”—Wind Repertory Project

The ensemble will then perform Norman Dello Joio’s Scenes from “The Louvre.” “The composition comes from a 1964 television documentary produced by NBC News called A Golden Prison: The Louvre, for which Dello Joio provided the soundtrack. The documentary tells the history of the Louvre and its world-class collection of art, which is in many ways inseparable from the history of France. Dello Joio chose to use the music of Renaissance-era composers in his soundtrack in order to match the historical depth of the film. He collected the highlights of this Emmy-winning score into a five-movement suite for band in 1965. The first movement, Portals, is the title music from the documentary, and it consists entirely of Dello Joio’s original material, complete with strident rhythms and bold 20th-century harmony. The second movement, Children’s Gallery, never actually appears in the film. It is a light-hearted theme and variations of Tielman Susato’s Ronde et Saltarelle.” —Wind Repertory Project

The Wind Ensemble will close the first half of the concert with a performance of Aram Khachaturian’s Aegina and Bacchanalia from his ballet Spartacus. This particular arrangement is by by Leslie Hicken
“The work follows the exploits of Spartacus, the leader of the slave uprising against the Romans known as the Third Servile War, although the ballet’s story line takes considerable liberties with the historical record. Reflecting colorful orchestration techniques and the influence of native Armenian classical traditions, Spartacus was one of Khachaturian’s hugely successful ballets. This exciting and powerful sequence from the ballet is adapted beautifully for the concert stage. An energetic rhythmic pulse is exhibited throughout, capped by a stunning and dramatic finish.”- Program Note from publisher
The Jazz Orchestra will perform after intermission. Dan Aldag shared his notes on the Jazz Orchestra portion of the program. “That’s All, by Pete Anson, was written for the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band and recorded on their album Dizzy in Greece. Our performance will feature solos by Andrew Henderson on trumpet, Ricardo Paredes on tenor sax and John Gerving on piano.

Pentonsilic by Billy Strayhorn is an amazing 12-minute composition written for the Duke Ellington Orchestra but was never recorded by them. The piece shows off Strayhorn’s classical music training, with terrific thematic development and counterpoint. The performance features solos by Rebekka Lopez & Luke Faulder, alto saxes, Danyelle Allen, bari sax, Chris Cox, trumpet, Ricardo Paredes, clarinet, and John Gerving, piano.

But Not For Me, is a composition by George and Ira Gershwin. The version we will be performing is arranged by Jamey Simmons, a trumpet player, composer/arranger, and educator who teaches at Middle Tennessee State University. We feature trombonist George Epperson on this.

We are also performing Kinda Dukish/Rockin’ in Rhythm by Duke Ellington. Rockin’ in Rhythm was composed and arranged by Ellington for his big band in 1931, and it remained a part of the band’s repertoire for the rest of Ellington’s long career. Kinda Dukish was written by Ellington in 1953 for his solo piano album Piano Reflections, and it ended up becoming the standard intro to Rockin’ in Rhythm in Ellington band performances. Kinda Dukish will feature John Gerving on piano, and Rockin’ In Rhythm has solos from Danyelle Allen on clarinet, Nate Heron on trombone, and Andrew Henderson on trumpet.

DATES/TIMES

WHERE

• Fulkerson Recital Hall

PRICE

• $10
• $5 Children
• Free Cal Poly Students with ID