The Delta State University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Bret Pimentel, will present its annual fall concert at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 7, in the Delta and Pine Land Theatre of the Bologna Performing Arts Center.
The band will feature special guest vocalist Dr. Teri Herron, assistant professor of music at Delta State.
The Jazz Ensemble is a 17-piece “big band” made up of music majors and non-music majors selected by a process of competitive auditions.
Big band jazz is characterized by tightly coordinated, high-energy playing from a large horn section made up of trumpets, trombones, and saxophones, working in partnership with a powerful, driving rhythm section of guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums. Individual group members often perform solos that are “improvised”—composed spontaneously in live performance.
The Jazz Ensemble’s repertoire includes favorites from the Swing Era of the 1930’s and 1940’s as well as more contemporary jazz styles from the 1950’s to the present. This year’s spring concert lineup includes new and old classics from the repertoires of the Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Bob Mintzer, and Harry Connick, Jr. big bands, and will feature over a dozen talented student soloists.
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the music department at 662-846-4615.
