The Normandale Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble continue the fall semester performance schedule on Thursday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dale Lorenz Auditorium.
First-year music student Collin Elliott will be playing contra-bass clarinet in in the Concert Band and the baritone saxophone for the Jazz Ensemble. Elliot was also a bass singer for the Concert Choir in last week’s concert. He is excited about the challenge of playing both instruments in the concert.
“I am a multi-instrumentalist, and getting to play the two instruments in one concert is always fun,” said Elliott. “It is going to be a challenge to change from my big instrument in Concert Band to a different big instrument with jazz in the span of minutes, but I really enjoy doing it.”
Elliott wants to get into music education and become a high school or college band director. He was attracted to Normandale, because of the high-quality music program.
“When I was making my decision about where to go to college, I was looking for a community college with a good music program,” said Elliott. “Normandale has made it easy and convenient to pursue my AFA in Music. I am taking entirely music credits now, and that is something I love doing.”
The Jazz Ensemble is performing three selections from the Kansas City Suite by Benny Carter and originally recorded by the Count Basie Orchestra. The tunes selected for the performance are Amoroso (latin-inspired), Meetin’ Time (gospel) and Blue Five Jive (up-tempo swing.
“The Kansas City style was known for a lot of riff charts commonly written over a 12-bar blues form,” said Normandale Music Instructor and Jazz Ensemble band director Aaron Moe. “Riffs are short melodic fragments that are repeated that are repeated multiple times to construct a simple memorable melody.”
In addition to those three songs, they will also play Blues to Begin With by Bill Liston, which is a modern take on a jazz blues.
“This tune features angular melodic lines in the saxophone playing against a standard big band block orchestration in the brass,” said Moe. “The form is doubled to 24-bars over the standard 12 bars and borrows a familiar chord progression from John Coltrane’s tune Syeeda’s Song Flue with a lot of chromatic side-stepping. There are several feature moments for the ensemble and soloists throughout”
Normandale’s jazz ensemble is a mix of students taking classes for the major, and community members who enjoy playing music and are able to audit the classes. Byron Backus is in his third year playing the trombone for the jazz ensemble, while Mike Young is in his second year the saxophone. They are both community members who love playing in Normandale’s jazz ensemble.
“Playing jazz was one of the biggest pleasures I had when I was in college,” said Backus. “I was a chemistry/biology major, and jazz was my escape from the classes and labs. I really enjoyed it. After college, I played in jazz bands for about 12 years. I got away from music for a long time because of work and family. I recently started coming to Normandale, because I can come to school as an older person, audit the classes, and play. It is a lot of fun.”
Young had a similar experience. He played in bands around the Twin Cities for a long time, and stopped in the mid-1990s when he had a family.
“It wasn’t until 2023 that I started playing again,” said Young. “This is a reasonably priced venue where you can play jazz. The band director Aaron (Moe) does an amazing job, and has a great repertoire that we play. It was been a lot of fun for me. I really have really enjoyed the experience.”
Mike also loves playing jazz with people from all different age grounds in the ensemble.
“I just look forward to playing jazz, because it is something I grew up with and I love it,” said Young. “I especially enjoy seeing a lot of young people playing it and carrying on the tradition. That to me is the coolest part of doing this.”
Elliott agrees that the range of ages in the jazz ensemble is a really great experience.
“I have always loved playing with a variety of age groups,” said Elliott. “I have taught younger kids, and played with community orchestra in the past with people of all ages. Being able to play with people who want to come here and just play music is so much fun. The different age range provides so much more to the entire experience. I have learned so many things from the people around me.”
Not only has Backus enjoyed playing with a variety ages with ensemble, but he also loves continuing to learn about the music they are playing.
“One of the things I really like about this experience is it is a class,” said Backus. “Aaron takes time to educate us on some of the tunes we are playing, or some of the artists that we are playing. Like the Count Basie Orchestra we are doing right now, and last year it was Buddy Rich and Maria Schneider. He really helps us understand where the music is coming from, and he points out the different styles we are playing. For me having played jazz a lot, it is fun to learning things here that I never knew before.
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