October 5, 2023 –Two student musical groups, the Santa Fe College (SF) Jazz Ensemble and the SF Jazz Combo, will perform at “An Evening of Jazz” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, in the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83 Street, Gainesville.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for seniors, students, military service members and children 12 and under; and free for SF students, faculty, and staff with college ID cards. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Hall box office at 352-395-4181 or online from Showpass at: showpass.com/an-evening-of-jazz-2.
“This concert is a great reminder of how rich this music is,” said SF Associate Professor of Music and Band Director David L. Smith, who will conduct the musicians. “Even during the years of segregation, this music bridged the USA’s racial divide by bringing people together to listen and dance to jazz, which is our country’s only original art form. Our students work very hard to prepare for this concert and the audience will enjoy music by some of the most important musicians and composers in the history of jazz.”
The 15 students in the Jazz Ensemble, which Smith describes as the “big band,” will perform selections based on written arrangements of jazz standards. Some of those selections include “Splanky,” recorded and made famous by Count Basie and his orchestra; “Minnie the Moocher” by Cab Calloway, a jazz singer and band leader during the 1920s Golden Age of Jazz; and “Work Song” by Cannonball Adderley, a jazz saxophonist during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to the saxophones, trumpets and trombones that are standard for jazz ensembles, this group will also include French horn and clarinet.
Instead of relying exclusively on written arrangements, the five students in the Jazz Combo will perform jazz standards focusing on solo improvisation in a small group setting. On the playlist are “My Little Suede Shoes” by Charlie Parker, alto saxophonist and pioneer of the bebop jazz movement of the 1940s, and “Sandu” by Clifford Brown, a jazz trumpeter from the 1940s.
“By featuring selections from the 1920s through the 1950s, ‘An Evening of Jazz’ offers a time capsule that traces the development of this influential art form,” Smith explained. “The influence of jazz isn’t limited to music but also includes dress, speech and the whole of society.”
“An Evening of Jazz” is organized and sponsored by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department.
For more information about the concert, call Smith at 352-395-5313. For ticket information, call the Box Office at 352-395-4181.