American Music Review offers 'Blues, Broadway & Bossa Nova'

American Music Review, Purdue’s swing era big band with vocalists, fills its first concert on Friday, Oct. 11, with “Blues, Broadway & Bossa Nova.”

The free concert is set for 8 p.m. in Loeb Playhouse. Spotlight performances by jazz combos from Purdue’s jazz studies program also highlight the evening.

John Coltrane’s “Impressions,” performed by the Wednesday Combo, kicks off the show. Jazz Band director M.T. “Mo” Trout says the influx of highly talented students into Purdue’s jazz program prompted him to form a handful of combos this fall that will perform at various concerts.

Altogether, three combos will be spotlighted at the concert in tunes ranging from Charles Mingus’ “Nostalgia in Times Square” to Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay.”

American Music Review opens the 2002-03 season with the same nostalgic mix of styles the William D. Kisinger led band has developed a reputation for over the years. “Blues, Broadway & Bossa Nova,” the concert’s theme, is carried out in tunes by Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, George Gershwin, Johnny Mandel and others.

Vocal and instrumental solos dot the program with Carmel junior Sarah Bauer as the featured vocalist in “Lullaby of Broadway.” DeColby Hill, a sophomore from Indianapolis, sings Gershwin’s “Love Is Here to Stay,” while trombone soloist Dan Campbell, a freshman from Mishawaka earns the spotlight in “A Time for Love.”

American Music Review’s next performance will be a free holiday show with the Purdue Jazz Band, “Holiday Cheer & All That Jazz” at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in Loeb Playhouse.

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