American Music Repertory Ensemble to feature music of the Gene Krupa Orchestra and Anita O’Day on Friday (Feb. 27)
February 25, 2015
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Purdue University Bands’ American Music Repertory Ensemble |
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University Bands’ American Music Repertory Ensemble will perform at 8 p.m. Friday (Feb. 27) in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse on campus.
The performance, which is free and open to the public, will feature the music of the Gene Krupa Orchestra and Anita O’Day.
Krupa began playing drums professionally in 1927 when he broke into the Chicago scene as a member of “Thelma Terry and Her Playboys,” the first notable co-ed American jazz band to be led by a female musician. He influenced the drum industry by endorsing Slingerland drums’s tom-toms with tunable top and bottom heads and partnering with the Armand Zildjian Company to develop the modern hi-hat cymbals. In 1978, Krupa became the first drummer inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.
O’Day broke onto the jazz scene in the late 1930s as a dynamic vocalist when she was hired to perform at Down Beat editor’s club, Off-Beat. She worked with jazz greats Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton.
Friday’s concert will open with the Purdue Jazz Guitar Ensemble playing favorites by Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter and Carlos Santana.
Contact: Susan Xioufaridou, director of Marketing and Public Relations, Purdue University Bands & Orchestras, 765-496-6785, susanx@purdue.edu
