News Article

Jazz Studies to Present 'Blues in the Night' Concert

JONESBORO – Arkansas State University Jazz Studies will present the annual “Blues in the Night” concert on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Fowler Center’s Riceland Hall, 201 Olympic Dr.

"The concert will feature the two large jazz ensembles performing music for every taste - from the classic big band era to premieres of today’s music," according to Dr. Ken Carroll, director of jazz studies and associate professor of music.  Admission is free and open to the public.

The Lab Band will open the program with “I Always Get the Blues from You,” a great swing number by Dallas trombonist Michael Medrick.  They will follow with “Oswego Swagger” by Bob Washut, which will feature a New York texture and the talented rhythm section.

The group will then create musical images of pastel and love with Melba Liston’s “Tone Poem.” The Lab Band will conclude its portion of the evening with the energetic funk tune titled “Honk,” by Jeff Jarvis.

Jazz Orchestra will complete the evening with another entertaining and challenging set featuring creative soloists and top-flight ensemble precision.  They will open with “Cold Duck Time,” a classic soul tune by Eddie Harris. 

The band salutes the best of the big band era with a Duke Ellington band classic “Squatty Roo” by Johnny Hodges, then follow up with a work written by trombonist and dean of the College of Fine Arts, Dr. Don Bowyer.  It is a swing piece with Cuban flare titled “Bugs and Gas.” 

The ballad “Find We All at Thoughtful Repose,” also by Medrick, allows the band to conjure images of the great 1940s dance halls.

The Jazz Orchestra will wrap up the evening with a special treat: the premiere of Chris Ott’s setting of “Yankee Doodle.”  Ott, the trombonist and writer for the unbelievable jazz group “The Huntertones,” loaned A-State Jazz Orchestra this amazing nursery rhyme setting and the band fell in love with it.

For more details, please contact the Department of Music at (870) 972-2094.

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Jazz Orchestra Members

Jazz Lab Band Members