Students and Professors Perform at the Fourth Annual Evening of Jazz

November 3, 2010

On Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., music students and faculty alike plan to get all jazzed up 鈥� literally. The Fine Arts Department will present the fourth annual Evening of Jazz, a free 90-minute concert in the E Auditorium featuring the talents of Santa Fe鈥檚 Rhythm and Blues band, Jazz Combo, and Big Band. Making its debut alongside these talented student musicians will be the Faculty Jazz Octet, a diverse group of Santa Fe professors brought together by a love of jazz.

鈥淲e鈥檙e offering quite a lot of good entertainment for free. This isn鈥檛 stuff you鈥檇 see anywhere else,鈥� said Music Professor Steve Bingham, director of the student jazz bands and organizer of the event. 鈥淓very year is a challenge to do better than the last. The Evening of Jazz keeps growing, and the audience keeps coming back. We鈥檙e about ready to outgrow this auditorium!鈥�

For one night only, the E Auditorium will be transformed into a smoky nightclub, where the audience can sit right next to the stage and be carried back to the heyday of jazz by the sultry wail of trumpets. Five vocalists will front the student bands, and the vocal professor herself, Lynn Sandefur, will be crooning as part of the Faculty Octet. Each musical group will play four songs for the event, except for the Big Band, which, with its 20 member musicians, will perform up to nine jazz staples.

Concert鈥檚 program

This year鈥檚 song selection ranges from the height of the Jazz Age in the 1930s all the way to present day. Classics like Dizzy Gillespie鈥檚鈥淣ight in Tunisia鈥� and Miles Davis鈥檚鈥淔our鈥� are among the offerings from the 10-piece Jazz Combo. Meanwhile, the Big Band will mix old school with new, playing modern jazz selections including Bette Midler鈥檚 1991 hit, 鈥淪tuff Like That There,鈥� and the theme song from the popular anime TV show Cowboy Bebop. The R&B band will tackle Motown in the style of the Saturday Night Live spinoff movie The Blues Brothers, using two male vocalists and borrowing songs from the film including Ray Charles鈥檚 version of 鈥淪hake a Tail Feather.鈥�

This event marks the first formal performance for Santa Fe鈥檚 Big Band since their concert at New York City鈥檚 Carnegie Hall. On May 21, 2010, the band took the stage with physically and mentally handicapped students from Gainesville鈥檚 Sydney Lanier School, representing the traditional jazz category for an international audience.

鈥淎 good big band is an ensemble that affects you in no other way,鈥� said Bingham. 鈥淚t can really lift you up. You come out of a concert feeling really good about things.鈥�

鈥淢ystery鈥� Faculty Jazz Octet debuts that night

The Faculty Jazz Octet has been a labor of love for the eight musicians, who have been practicing together clandestinely over their Friday lunch hours.

鈥淚 figured there were a lot of latent jazz performers out there, and I wanted to see if there were any in our school. And there are,鈥� said Bingham.

While the Octet will feature the talents of music professors Bingham, Sandefur and Brian Holder on drums, several mystery musicians from the Administration and the English, Math, and Visual Art departments will reveal their identities onstage that night.

鈥淢usic doesn鈥檛 have time barriers. After a while, you鈥檙e going to have to stop playing basketball or football because your body gives in,鈥� said Bingham. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a time limit with music, though. You can play all your life.鈥�

While the concert is free, the students will be collecting donations from the audience, and those donations, along with the proceeds from the sale of refreshments such as cookies and brownies, will help fund the musicians when they go on tours.

鈥淛azz has a certain mystique, a certain lore. It鈥檚 America鈥檚 true art form,鈥� said Bingham. 鈥淲e try to keep it alive. If that doesn鈥檛 happen at the college level, who is going to keep jazz education going?鈥�

For more information about this concert, please contact Dr. Steve Bingham at 352-395-5313 or email to steve.bingham@sfcollege.edu.

This press release was written by Allison Griner, Communication Specialist, College Relations