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SBU Jazz Ensemble in spring concert

The Southwest Baptist University Department of Music presents the Jazz Ensemble in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in Pike Auditorium on the SBU campus.

Under the direction of Jeffery L. Waters, dean of the Geneva Casebolt College Of Music, Arts and Letters, the 17-piece Jazz Ensemble is the premiere ensemble on campus dedicated to the exclusive study of jazz music and will feature SBU student performers in a program which includes a variety of styles associated with the big-band jazz ensemble.  

The program is anchored by four swing tunes, including Mercer Ellington’s “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” Nat Adderley’s “Work Song,” Benny Carter’s “Blue Five Jive,” and “Salute to Benny Goodman,” a medley of the bandleader’s biggest hits. The program also branches into modern tunes, including Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints,” Jeff Jarvis’s funk chart “Off the Hook” and Mike Dana’s ballad “True North.” The program also includes Latin contemporary jazz works such as the tango-flavored “Libertango” by famed Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla and Jeff Jarvis’s “Category 4,” which features an Afro-Cuban structure.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Waters at jwaters@SBUniv.edu or (417) 328-1632.