Purdue Bands’ offer concert full of ‘Big Band Treats’

“Big Band Treats,” a Halloween goodie bag full of swing era big band hits from Purdue’s American Music Review and its Lab Jazz Band, takes place at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22 in Loeb Playhouse of Purdue’s Stewart Center.

It is one of two concerts, with the Purdue’s Orchestra’s “Super Heroes Halloween” on Oct. 24, that mark the holiday known for its ability to produce magic moments. Both concerts are free.

Bill Kisinger, who directs the Lafayette Citizens Band in the summer, exerts the same magic with Purdue’s American Music Review big band and singers during the school year.

Hits by Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin, and Count Basie are among the treats offered on the Oct. 22 concert. It’ll spotlight “a very exciting, uptempo arrangement of ‘Summertime’ that hasn’t been available before. It’s from the landmark 1959 album by Bill Potts, The Jazz Soul of Porgy and Bess,” Kisinger says.

The big band’s quartet of singers will be featured on “Pennies from Heaven” and “Take Five.”

Kisinger gets a chance to show off his solo abilities, performing Rodgers and Hart’s “Manhattan” on euphonium with the band.

Among the other tunes on the show are “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Love for Sale,” “All of Me” and “Cobblestones.” It’ll close with one of Count Basie’s best known blues riff tunes, “One O’Clock Jump.”

The Oct. 22 concert’s opening act, the Lab Jazz Band directed by M.T. “Mo” Trout, adds their own selection of jazz standards to the mix including Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” Quincy Jones’ “Hard Sock Dance” and Duke Ellington’s “Jump for Joy.”

Jack Cooper’s “Two for Love” brings Cole Porter into the spotlight again. The piece is based on Porter’s jazz standard “I Love You.”

Trout suggests audiences pay attention to tenor sax soloist Jin Jo, a freshman from New Jersey, who gets spots in “Jump for Joy,” “Whisper Not” and “A Night in Tunisia.” “Jin just moved to the United States three years ago and had never played an instrument before (taking private lessons at Purdue) and didn’t speak English. He’s doing a pretty spectacular job,” Trout says.

Other chances to hear Purdue’s jazz bands this fall include a concert on Nov. 19 and a holiday show on Dec. 10.