From Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix, Portland State’s Jazz Night, to be held Thursday, March 15, promises to appeal to many musical tastes and will showcase some new larger ensembles that depart from the usual musical conventions.
From Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix, Portland State’s Jazz Night, to be held Thursday, March 15, promises to appeal to many musical tastes and will showcase some new larger ensembles that depart from the usual musical conventions.
The program will be a blend of contemporary and classic jazz pieces performed by a sax ensemble, a trombone ensemble, two guitar ensembles and the Miles Davis Nonet (a nine-player group).
George Colligan, an acclaimed composer and pianist, is a relatively new addition to the university music faculty. His arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s “JuJu” will be performed by the saxophone ensemble.
The trombone ensemble will perform several arrangements by long-time PSU professor Charles Gray, including the classic jazz piece “Milestones” by Miles Davis and the more lively and fun “Hickey-Burr,” which you might recognize as the theme song from The Cosby Show co-written by Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby.
The larger of the two guitar ensembles will perform arrangements by Gray as well: Charlie Parker’s “Au Privave” and Charlie Christian’s “Airmail Special.”
“[It] will be interesting because it’s made up of about eight to 12 guitarists, all playing at the same time with a rhythm section,” Gray said.
Traveling ahead to the ’60s, the smaller guitar ensemble will be performing a Jimi Hendrix song arranged by Colligan.
The Nonet will be playing pieces written and arranged by Don Braden, a famous saxophonist, flautist (among other instruments) and composer from New York who is the music director of Montclair State University in New Jersey.
