Jazz Ensemble and Combo to Perform Feb. 12

by Richard Veit

Baylor University's Jazz Ensemble I will present its annual spring concert at 8 p.m. on Friday in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building. The ensemble -- which plays under the direction of Benjamin Irom, Lecturer in Jazz Studies -- will be joined on the program by a quintet comprised of Irom and four student performers.
The 17-member Jazz Ensemble I will open the concert with Sammy Nestico's "Switch in Time" and a Johnny Mercer/Johnny Mandel composition, "Emily." The group's opening set will conclude with Bob Curnow's arrangement of Pat Metheny's "Have You Heard."
Members of the Matt Walker Quintet are trombonist Matt Walker, saxophonist Eli González, pianist Benjamin Irom, bassist J. D. Salas and drummer Jeremy Brown. They will play Irom's own "Allegro con Fusion," Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring," John Coltrane's "Naima" and Cannonball Adderley's "Sticks."
Following intermission, Jazz Ensemble I will return to the stage for the John LaBarbera arrangement of Horace Silver's "Doodlin'," Bob Mintzer's "What Might Have Been" and "La Nevada Blues" by Gil Evans.
The final set will open with an arrangement by Gil Evans of the song, "The Maids of Cádiz" ("Les filles de Cádiz"), which was written in 1872 by the famous French composer Léo Delibes.
Concluding the program will be Bob Florence's "Westlake" and the Greg Hopkins' setting of Horace Silver's "Nutville."
This concert by Jazz Ensemble I and the Matt Walker Quintet is free and open to the public. For more information, call 710-3991.