The Northwest Wind Symphony will be in concert at 7pm, January 24, 2015 at Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College Campus. If you prefer music with a groove or a swing, this is the show for you! Tickets are $12 for general admission and are available at the door or at Book n Brush in Chehalis. Students are admitted free; younger students must be accompanied by an adult.
The program features a mix of jazz old and new:
Shortcut Home by Dana Wilson (b. 1946)
Clarinet Concerto by Artie Shaw (1910 – 2004), arr. Daniel Heuschen
All Blues by Miles Davis, (1926 – 1991), arr. Michael Simpson
Bayou Breakdown by Brant Karrick (b. 1960)
Symphonic Dance #5 “New Generation” by Clifton Williams (1923 – 1976)
Salute to American Jazz by Sammy Nestico (b. 1924)
Awayday by Adam Gorb (b. 1958)
The evening will begin with a fanfare of sorts. Shortcut Home is a rather elaborate fanfare that features each section of the ensemble. Drawing upon various jazz styles, the music proclaims and cascades, always driving towards the “home” of the final C major chord! Dana Wilson holds a doctorate from the Eastman School for Music, and is currently a professor of Music in the School of Music at Ithaca College. Known primarily for his symphonic and chamber compositions (not jazz), it is curious to note that he is a proficient jazz pianist.
Tonight’s Clarinet Concerto celebrates Artie Shaw, widely regarded as “one of jazz’s finest clarinetists of his generation. He was also an early proponent of what became known much later as “third stream” music, which blended elements of classical and jazz forms and traditions. A self-proclaimed “very difficult man,” Shaw was married eight times and his wives included actresses Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Evelyn Keyes; he also briefly dated Judy Garland.
Few jazz musicians have had greater impact on American music than Miles Davis. He bridged the gap between Bebop and Cool jazz! Principal hornist Mike Simpson will be featured as the NWWS performs his arrangement of Miles Davis’ All Blues.
In his brief introductory notes, composer Brant Karrick indicates that Bayou Breakdown is a fugue in the style of J.S. Bach. The four-part fugue begins with woodwinds, transitions to the brass, and eventually the entire ensemble gets into the fray! Bach? Well . . . maybe Bach in the style of some back woods, down home, hillbilly banjo pickin’ jazz!
Clifton Williams is a venerated composer, well known to all of us in the band world: taught at UT in Austin Texas, played horn in the San Antonio, winner of the very first American Bandmaster’s Ostwald Award for composition, and also a second one a year later. Although he composed for all types of ensembles, he devoted his final years to creating new works for the wind band. Symphonic Dance #5 was originally composed for the San Antonio Symphony orchestra as one of five commissions to commemorate their twenty-fifth anniversary. Williams felt that it signified the “wedding of symphonic music and old time big band jazz in one style.”
Upon graduation from Duquesne University, Sammy Nestico joined the Air Force as staff arranger for the Air Force Band. He also kept busy as a freelance arranger for the US Marine Band and even performed functions at the White House. He also wrote arrangements for the Count Basie Band and even arranged entire albums for that band. Salute to American Jazz features melodies from famous jazz tunes such as “Night in Tunisia,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing,” and “Birdland.”
Our final selection, Awayday, features a work by Adam Gorb who first studied music in Cambridge, and then Royal College of Music in London, England. It is a thoroughly classical wind piece, in which elements of jazz are interwoven. Jazz rhythms, “licks,” and break-neck speeds give this work a solid place in the world of “Third Stream” music.
For more information, contact us at secretary@northwestwindsymphony.org or visit our Tickets page.