UMaine jazz ensemble, combo set to host a swingin’ good night

ORONO – The University of Maine Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo will take the stage at Hauck Auditorium for a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, on the UM campus. Karel Lidral, director of jazz studies and associate professor of music at UM, is the director of both groups.

The Jazz Ensemble will perform several pieces including Victor Feldman and Miles Davis’ composition, “Seven Steps to Heaven.”

It has been cast, Lidral said, in a stunning arrangement for jazz big band by veteran composer-arranger Manny Mendelson. The chart features solos from trumpet player Justin Obie, tenor saxophonist Steve Barter, and drummer Arthur Lidral.

Oliver Nelson’s “Yearnin'” appears in the arrangement, as performed by the Oliver Nelson Orchestra. Featuring soloists Justin Drew and Justin Obie on trumpet and John Maclaine on trombone, Lidral described the piece as “a true original.”

The big band classic “April in Paris” will be performed with the jazz ensemble playing an arrangement that was recorded by the Count Basie Orchestra.

Other pieces the ensemble will perform include originals “Listen,” by Neil Slater and “Passado” by Dave Hanson. In addition, there will be arrangements of standards like Percy Mayfield’s “Lost Mind,” Herbie Hancock’s “Wiggle Waggle,” Cole Porter’s “It’s All Right With Me,” Tiny Bradshaw’s “Jersey Bounce,” and Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are.”

Works to be performed by the Jazz Combo will include the swing-style pieces “Call Me Irresponsible,” “I Remember You,” “Stolen Moments,” and “Have You Met Miss Jones?”; Latin American pieces “Song For My Father” and “How Insensitive”; the jazz waltz, “My Favorite Things;” and the ballad, “I Can’t Get Started.”

The concert concludes the jazz program’s performances for the fall semester. Admission for the concert is $6 per person; UM students will be admitted free with a MaineCard.

To order tickets, call the Maine Center for the Arts box office at 581-1755 or (800) MCA-TIXX. More information is available at www.umaine.edu/spa.