| U of M azz Ensembles To Present the ‘Music of Art Blakey’ at ‘J to Z’ Concert Oct. 13 |
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| Written by Administrator | |
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The University of Minnesota Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dean Sorenson, and Jazz Combo I, directed by Phil Hey, will present a concert of music associated with the great drummer and bandleader Art Blakey on Thursday Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Twin Cities Jazz Society as part of its “Jazz from J to Z” series, the concert will be held at the Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 South Fourth Street in Minneapolis. Admission is free. Art Blakey was a towering figure in jazz, leading one of the most influential and longest-running groups in jazz history, The Jazz Messengers. The list of alumni from the group that many called “The University of Art Blakey” includes Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Bobby Watson, and Wynton Marsalis. The Messengers always featured original compositions written by band members. Blakey himself drove the group with his powerful style of drumming. While Blakey is best known for the small groups featuring two to three horn players in front of the rhythm section, the Jazz Messengers, when originally formed in the late 1940s, was a big band. The first small group version of the Jazz Messengers was co-led by Art and Horace Silver. Silver left the group, and the name, to Art in 1956 and it continued under Blakey’s leadership for more than 30 years.The concert on Oct. 13 will feature big band and combo versions of compositions associated with Blakey from the very fertile period of the 1960s when the band recorded many classic sides for Blue Note Records. There will also be more recent compositions by Bobby Watson and others. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Ted Mann Concert Hall on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota. Admission is free. FFI, call (612) 624-2334 or email < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >. —submitted by Dean Sorenson, U of M Director of Jazz Studies |
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