A wide range of jazz styles, student compositions and musical improvisations are just some of the treats the University Jazz Bands hope to entertain students and music lovers with at their quarterly concert tomorrow night.
The concert will feature a mix of classical and contemporary jazz chosen by Paul Rinzler, director of jazz studies, and the student musicians. Some of the composition highlights will include “I’ve got you under my skin,” a song made popular by Frank Sinatra and “Peep,” a song composed by jazz saxophonist Michael Brecker. Rinzler said that audiences members should come to the concert expecting to be surprised and to hear great music performed by great musicians.
“Improvs play a large role in jazz, and in this concert a lot of students are going to be improvising,” Rinzler said. “Not only do the audiences not know what’s going to happen, but the musicians don’t know what’s going to happen in the concert. Hopefully that’ll keep everybody on their toes.”
In addition to performing pieces composed by known jazz musicians, the bands will also be playing some composed by Rinzler, Cal Poly student Steve Carlton, and Gordon Au, the brother of trumpet player Justin Au. Rinzler’s own composition, “Babylonian Holiday” is his favorite piece that he has personally written and he is excited to hear it played by the students. Justin expects the concert to be a good show and is excited to play his brother’s composition because of its complexity.
“It’s actually a very challenging piece,” Justin said. “It’s kind of a fusion between jazz and funk and there’s a lot of time changes that make it very tricky but it’s an exciting tune.”
While the complexity of the rhythms in this quarter’s concert are different, the difficulty of the pieces are similar to what band members have experienced in the past. Trombone player Maritza Spieller will play in her first concert as a member of the University Jazz Band. Spieller said that more than anything, she’s excited to play and hear the compositions of students performed by the band.
“I’m excited, but I haven’t heard them yet,” Spieller said. “I’m more just excited because jazz is just more fun than classical music. I play trombone so in jazz, trombone gets more attention rather than classical which is just more chords.”
Justin said another highlight audiences should anticipate are the three vocalists that will accompany certain pieces. Two vocalists are students and the third is a professional who sang for Frank Sinatra and other notable jazz musicians. For Cal Poly graduate Mary Thomas, seeing the students perform in general is something she’s looking forward to.
“Cal Poly always blows me away, especially in the smaller programs,” Thomas said. “Cal Poly students are just always driven so when I’m going to see something, I’m always surprised at how professional it looks and how polished. So I’m sure it’ll be like actually going to see the symphony. They’re probably really good.”
The concert starts at 8 p.m. and will be held in Spanos Theater. Tickets are on sale now at the Performing Arts Center ticket office. The office is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be purchased at the ticket booth or by phone at 805-756-2787. Tickets are $10 for the public, $8 for senior citizens and Jazz Federation members and $6 for students.