UMaine Musicians in Tune with Jazz Appreciation Month
Contact: George Manlove at (20&) 581-3756
ORONO — The UMaine Jazz Ensemble and UMaine Jazz Ensemble will appear in concert in Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine Thursday, April 22, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The concert is part of a busy month of many local performances by the UMaine Jazz musicians and their director Karel A. Lidral, an accomplished professional musician, associate professor of music and director of jazz studies in the UMaine School of Performing Arts.
Also, for the ninth consecutive year, the 20-member UMaine Jazz Ensemble will play live on “Friday Night Jazz,” a show hosted by Rich Tozier on Maine Public Radio, 90.9 FM.
April is Jazz Appreciation Month.
Among the pieces to be performed by the Jazz Ensemble April 22 at Minsky Recital Hall on the Orono campus are Duke Ellington’s arrangement of “Perdido,” by Lengsfelder, Drake and Tizol. The piece, transcribed from the original 1942 recording by David Berger for “Jazz at Lincoln Center,” is completely authentic, Lidral says.
UMaine trombonist John Maclaine transcribed the introduction that opens the piece from a different recording of the same work.
Herbie Hancock’s “Eye of the Hurricane,” arranged by international jazz artist and composer Bob Mintzer, is a wonderful setting of this piece, which was originally recorded by much smaller groups, and features solos from Justin Obie on the trumpet, Jennifer Snowman on baritone sax and Steve Barter on tenor sax.
The spectacular “Ahunk, Ahunk,” composed by Thad Jones and recorded by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra on the album “Consummation,” is a contemporary chart in 5/4 time, featuring solos from Justin Drew on trumpet, John Maclaine on trombone and Ethan Brush on alto sax.
The remainder of the Ensemble’s “book” includes contemporary and classic compositions from Oliver Nelson, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, John Fedchock and Mintzer.
The four pieces to be performed by the eight-member Jazz Combo are chosen from eight works the group has worked on this semester. They include “Blue Train,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Doxy,” “Nutville,” “Our Day Will Come,” “So Nice (Summer Samba),” “Speak Low” and “Sister Sadie,” all arranged by Frank Mantooth, a wonderful jazz composer, arranger and pianist who died earlier this year, according to Lidral.
Admission to the concert is $6. Minsky Hall is in Class of 1944 Hall. Ticket information is available by calling 581-1755 or 1-800-MCA-TIXX.
The Ensemble’s spring performance season ends April 23 with a concert on Maine Public Radio’s “Friday Night Jazz” from 9-10:30 pm (90.9 FM), which reaches an estimated broadcast audience of 400,000. The concert will be streamed live on the Internet.
Earlier in the day on April 23, from 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m., The Lidral (jazz) Duo will present its ninth chamber jazz lunch performance of the semester in the Bangor Lounges of the Memorial Union.
Also, in recognition of Jazz Appreciation Month, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma music fraternity and sorority will sponsor Jazz Movie Night #5 — featuring “The Cotton Club” on April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Bangor Lounges in the Memorial Union.
On April 30 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Lidral Duo (Karel Lidral and Terry Ann Lidral on piano) presents its tenth Chamber Jazz Lunch performance of the semester in the Bangor Lounges of the Memorial Union.
Prior to his coming to UMaine, Karel Lidral taught at Augustana College in Illinois and at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire, and also maintained a distinguished performance and recording schedule.
He has shared the stage with such jazz greats as Red Rodney, Jon Faddis, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Dennis Wilson, Laurence Hobgood and Chuck Israels. He also was a regular member of the Jack McDuff quintet during the two-year period he lived in New York, and has performed with the bands of a number of major recording artists, including Vicki Carr, Kate Smith, The Temptations, The Fifth Dimension, Manhattan Transfer, Wayne Newton and Englebert Humperdinck.
Membership in the UMaine Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo is by audition and its members are both graduate and under-graduate students.