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 1960s 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 which have all been arranged or composed by the Jazz Combos students. The 60s recordings are a Jazz literature staple that are 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.
About 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.
About Peter Sommer
Since establishing 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. Read more.
About Wil Swindler
Composer and Saxophonist, Wil Swindler currently resides near Denver, Colorado where he leads Wil Swindler’s Elevenet, the modern bop quintet GoodRattle and serves as musical director vocalist Barron Steffen. 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, as well as playing productions at both the Buell Theatre and the Arvada Center for the Arts. Read more.
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.