Oct. 12 “Cross Currents” concert blends musical
styles
American Music Review, Lab Jazz Band featured
Crossing vocal talent with a jazz ensemble, American Music Review and the Lab Jazz Band present “Cross Currents” on Friday, Oct. 12.
The free concert is set for 8 p.m. in Loeb Playhouse of the Purdue Stewart Center.
All kinds of musical currents – jazz, blues, ballads, swing, funk, even Latin - come together in the upbeat concert which also puts a spotlight on talents of Lafayette pianist Gary Branson and pulls two Purdue directors away from the conducting duties to perform as soloists.
A breezy arrangement of Toots Theilman’s jazz waltz “Bluesette” showcases Branson on piano, William Kisinger on baritone and M.T. “Mo” Trout on trumpet. Kisinger, who arranged the piece, conducts the American Music Review big band that backs up the soloists. Trout is the director of Lab Jazz Band.
Branson, a professional pianist who performs throughout central Indiana as well as teaching at Central Catholic High School, also blends his unique style with the vocal stylings of two Purdue singers with Lafayette area roots.
Sara Suppinger, a sophomore liberal arts major from Lafayette, sings “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” and Hannah Niebrugge, a senior pharmacy major from West Lafayette, sings “Early Autumn.”
American Music Review, which specializes in music from the 1940s ranging from uptempo swing to romantic ballads, offers such selections as Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Any More,” Harold Arlen’s “It’s Only a Paper Moon” and Tito Puente’s “Ran Kan Kan.”
Adding its own currents to the concert, the Lab Jazz Band samples big band jazz with Maria Schneider’s “In a Pinch” as well as jazz interpretation of Carole King’s 1970s rock hit “Corazon.”
“Cross Currents,” the Ellen Rowe tune that gives the concert its name, is predominately written in a bossa nova style. “It runs the gamut from a soft, smooth bossa nova to an exciting rock feel, coming back down to a quiet feel in the end. Its currents make it musically challenging. The students have to really think musically about what they trying to express and not just read the notes,” says Trout.
Upcoming performances for these Purdue Bands groups include a Nov. 17 jazz concert with a Latin focus, and concert of holiday music by American Music Review and the Purdue Jazz Band on Dec. 7. Both are free; for more information call (765) 496-6785.