Purdue News

November 25, 2002 Nostalgia tinged with jazz fills Holiday Cheer & All That Jazz WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Holiday Cheer & All That Jazz, a Saturday, Dec. 7, family holiday show, packages favorite holiday tunes with festive Big Band music and jazz. The Purdue Jazz Band, along with American Music Review and its singers, are featured in the free concert set for 8 p.m. in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse. Designed to capture the spirit of the season, the show ranges from jazz versions of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Good King Wenceslas," "Greensleeves" and "Auld Lang Syne" to such nostalgic vocal offerings as "White Christmas." Decolby Hill, a sophomore premed major from Indianapolis, will sing the Bing Crosby classic. Other vocals performed by American Music Review and its singers include the familiar "Peanuts" theme "Christmas Time is Here," "A Christmas Song" about chestnuts roasting on the open fire, and "Christmas Morning," a warm, fuzzy song about Christmas Day with the family. The Purdue Jazz Band also will present an elaborate instrumental version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which makes extensive use of the piano skills of Ryan Hicks, a junior majoring in electrical and computer engineering from Fort Wayne, Ind. To prevent holiday overload, and provide a musical counterpoint to the concert, both groups plan to slip in a handful of non-holiday numbers. With the concert falling on Pearl Harbor Day, selections include a special salute to veterans with "American Trilogy" and "American Gothic." The concert is sponsored by Purdue University Bands. No tickets are needed. For more information call Kathy Matter, Purdue Bands public relations director, at (765) 496-6785. CONTACT: Kathy Matter, (765) 496-6785, kcmatter@purdue.edu. NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Media interested in interviews should contact Kathy Matter, Purdue Bands public relations director, at (765) 496-6785. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page