Ya like jazz?
Whether you are an avid jazz fan or someone who has never listened to jazz, Jazz @ the BCT ft. the Latin Jazz Ensemble is a concert you must see!
In his opening address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the importance of jazz and said—
“Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music… Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.”
I consider jazz to be the amalgamation of music and the human experience. Since the genre was born in the United States from a mix of musical and cultural traditions, it has the unique ability to convey the stories from its various creators.
Personally, I was a trombonist for 12 years— during that time I played jazz and classical music but always felt more connected to jazz. In high school, I participated in the Ravinia Jazz Scholars Program and I worked with the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Women in Jazz Leadership Initiative. Each of these programs emphasized the importance of bringing your experience into your music and as a Latina, I particularly loved playing Latin jazz! Overall, my experience with jazz was challenging yet empowering— I’m very grateful for the lessons jazz taught me and I think it’s an important genre for anyone to explore.
This event is particularly exciting to me because it features Wayne Wallace. Wayne Wallace is a professor of practice in jazz studies and jazz trombone at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is is a seven-time Grammy nominee who has performed, recorded, and studied with masters of the Afro-Latin and jazz idioms, such as Aretha Franklin, Bobby Hutcherson, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Escovedo, Santana, and many more. He is the creator of the critically acclaimed Patois Records, a unique record label with a passionate mission of ‘developing and chronicling the multi-lingual styles of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene’.
So, if you’re looking for an exciting night of jazz– check out Jazz @ the BCT on Monday, October 14, 2019 at 8:00 pm at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
The repertoire for the concert is as follows:
H. Ramírez: El Ministro
Mauleón: Un Poquito
Mossman: Moss Code
V. Thompson/Wallace: ¡Hola Frida K!
Silver/Wallace: Silver’s Serenade
Heindorf: Pete Kelly’s Blues
Vilató/Wallace: Ya Se Ve
Wallace: El Paseo
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