The Delta State University Jazz Ensemble and Dr. Jamie Dahman, assistant professor of music.
The Delta State University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Associate Professor of Music Dr. Bret Pimentel, will present its annual spring concert at 7:30 p.m. on April 17 in the Delta and Pine Land Theatre of the Bologna Performing Arts Center.
The ensemble is an 18-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 year’s concert lineup includes new and classic jazz music by great composers and arrangers like Sammy Nestico, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Wayne Shorter and Louis Prima.
The performance will feature special guest vocalist Dr. Jamie Dahman, assistant professor of music, singing the music of Frank Sinatra.
The concert is free and open to the public.
