FSU Jazz Combo Concert

Frostburg State University’s Jazz Combo, under the direction of Tom Harrison, will present a concert featuring classic jazz standards from legends such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Strayhorn, Lee Morgan, Antonio Carlos Jobim and more.

Presented by the FSU Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, the concert will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pealer Recital Hall at FSU’s Woodward D. Pealer Performing Arts Center. Admission is free and open to the public. Click the red Join Stream button on this page to join the livestream.

The Jazz Combo includes Taylor Bryan (piano), Garrett Yoder (guitar), Ray Gibson (guitar), Joshua Steward (alto sax), Mason Trub (trumpet), Joe Rubens III (drums) and Tom Harrison (bass), with vocalist Mackenzie Taylor featured on select pieces.

The performance will showcase a diverse selection of jazz standards, including “Cantaloupe Island” by Herbie Hancock, from his 1964 album Empyrean Isles, and “Totem Pole” by trumpet master Lee Morgan, from his The Sidewinder album, recorded in 1963. The program will also feature “There Will Never Be Another You,” written by Harry Warren for the 1942 musical Iceland and performed by generations of jazz artists; “Strasbourg St. Denis,” a more recent selection written by trumpeter Roy Hargrove and recorded in 2008, featuring a soulful groove; and “Sea Journey,” a Chick Corea composition first heard on his 1971 album Piano Improvisation Vol. 1 as “Song for Sally” and subsequently recorded by bassist Stanley Clarke, vibraphonist Gary Burton and many others.

The following works will feature vocalist Mackenzie Taylor: “500 Miles High,” another Chick Corea standard from his landmark 1973 album Light as a Feather; “Agua de Beber” (“Water to Drink”) by prolific Brazilian bossa nova composer Antônio Carlos Jobim; and “Take the ‘A’ Train,” the signature tune of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, written by Billy Strayhorn, who composed and arranged music for Ellington for nearly three decades and penned many jazz standards.

The vocal selections will also include “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. Originally recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra, the song was later recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Cass Elliott and many others. The program will continue with “A Night in Tunisia,” composed by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and pianist Frank Paparelli in 1942 and recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and many more. Rounding out the vocal selections is “(It’s Just) Talk” by Grammy-winning guitarist Pat Metheny, which features wordless vocalizations that use the voice as an instrument alongside the other instruments, creating a unique blend frequently heard in Metheny’s music.

For more information, contact the FSU Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at 301-687-4109 or visit www.frostburg.edu/concerts.