Introduction

“Winds Go Pops” Concert Features Show Tunes and Jazz Standards Feb. 27

“Winds Go Pops” Concert Features Show Tunes and Jazz Standards Feb. 27

February 5, 2020 – The Santa Fe Winds, directed by Dr. David L. Smith, will perform 20th-century Broadway show tunes and jazz standards in a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, in the lobby of the Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus of Santa Fe College.

About 22 students from Santa Fe College are in the Santa Fe Winds. Most are declared music majors, but there are a few from other disciplines who enroll to keep their skills fresh and to enjoy performing with others.

“This concert will showcase well-known classics of 20th-century American popular music, including standards from the jazz repertoire and songs from Broadway musicals in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s,” explained Smith, who is the college’s Interim Associate Professor of Music and Band Director. “We’ll also perform the music from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’”

“The Santa Fe Winds are a dedicated group of students who work hard all semester to play music at a very high level,” Smith continued. “Their mastery of skills, their creativity, and what they can achieve together is really breathtaking. Music is at its best when you have a group like this, who all agree to work together in an ensemble setting.”

Smith cited creativity, collaborative teamwork, problem-solving and communication abilities and leadership as some of the important skills that students develop when they study and perform music.

Smith has an undergraduate degree in Music Performance from Florida State University, a master’s degree in Jazz Studies Performance from the University of South Florida (USF), and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies Performance from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU). Before coming to SF, he taught at both USF and CU and served as director of bands at Plato Academy in Pinellas County. He has performed with legendary jazz trombonist George “Buster” Cooper of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and with some of the leading jazz artists in New York including Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Roberts, Jason Marsalis and Vincent Gardner.

“Winds Go Pops” is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Department.

For more information about the concert or the Santa Fe College bands, call David Smith at 352-395-5313.