The Delta State University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of associate professor of music Dr. Bret Pimentel, will present a concert April 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jobe Hall Auditorium.
The DSU Jazz Ensemble is a 17-piece “big band” made up of music majors and non-music majors selected by competitive audition. The band is known in the community for its annual Big Band Bash fundraiser, an evening of dining, dancing and classic Swing Era music.
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 keyboards, bass and drums. Individual group members often perform solos that are improvised — composed spontaneously in live performance.
The DSU Jazz Ensemble’s repertoire includes favorites from the Swing Era of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as more contemporary jazz styles from the 1950s to the present.
This concert’s lineup includes new and classic jazz music by great composers and arrangers like Hoagy Carmichael, Woody Herman, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Neal Hefti.
The concert is free and open to the public.
