Join the Jazz Combos for a classic jazz recital with a twist, featuring everything from 1960s classics to original recordings.
The Jazz Combos are back at CSU, presenting a special concert featuring the nostalgic sounds of ’60s Blue Note Records jazz Wednesday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Griffin Concert Hall at the University Center for the Arts, located at 1400 Remington St.
This concert features music from 1960s Blue Note recording label artists that have been arranged or composed by the Jazz Combos students. The ’60s recordings are a jazz literature staple that is revered and studied today. In addition to celebrating the Blue Note recordings, Combo I presents an all-original set of music composed by its members.
The combined Jazz Combos I, II and III at CSU, conducted by Peter Sommer and Wil Swindler, give students the opportunity to develop their improvisational skills in a performance environment while also fostering the group dynamics of small ensemble playing. Students are also exposed to standard jazz performance practice and repertoire.
The Blue Note Records
An iconic American jazz record label established in 1939, the company derives its name from the characteristic “blue notes” of jazz and the blues. The label became a beacon of traditional and modern jazz recordings, as well as small group swing and some early bebop such as Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro and Bud Powell.
Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Grant Green, Hank Mobley, John Coltrane and Jackie McLean were among the label’s leading artists. Enjoying its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s, the photography and graphic art of Reid Miles created a series of iconic album covers, which added to Blue Note’s artistic reputation.
Peter Sommer
Having established himself among the Denver area’s elite jazz musicians, Peter Sommer has contributed his energetic tenor playing and creative spirit to a wide variety of musical projects, ranging from mainstream bebop to avant garde and beyond, at venues across the nation and around the world. Although rooted in the great jazz tradition of his heroes Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, he continues to search for the mystery in music-making and takes
great joy in sharing the present moment with the listener.
Wil Swindler
Composer and saxophonist Wil Swindler currently resides near Denver, where he leads Wil Swindler’s Elevenet and the modern bop quintet GoodRattle. He is a performer and contributing composer with Raincheck, the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra, the 9th+Lincoln Orchestra, the Colorado Jazz Orchestra, Manny Lopez’s Latin Jazz Project, and the Legacy Jazz Orchestra. He also performs with the Colorado Symphony, the Fort Collins Symphony, and the Boulder Philharmonic, and plays productions at both the Buell Theatre and the Arvada Center for the Arts.
Tickets are $7 for CSU students, $1 for youth (under 18), and $12 for the public. Tickets are available at the University Center for the Arts (UCA) ticket office in the UCA lobby Monday through Friday, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. and 60 minutes prior to performances, by phone at 970-491-ARTS (2787), or online at www.CSUArtsTickets.com. Youth tickets must be purchased in person at the Ticket Office. All tickets are subject to a $1 ticket fee for both online and at-the-door purchases. Advance ticket purchase is highly recommended to avoid lines and further at-the-door fees.
The University Center for the Arts at Colorado State University provides an enriched venue in which the study and practice of Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre are nurtured and sustained by building the skills and knowledge needed by future generations of arts professionals to become contributors to the essential vitality of our culture and society.
For more information, visit UCA.Colostate.edu.
