Purdue Bands' 'Jazz on the Hill' concert pays tribute to the 1970s
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Outdoor concerts became very popular in the 1970s and music from that era will color Purdue Bands' annual "Jazz on the Hill" at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (May 1) at Slayter Center, on the corner of Stadium and Jischke Drive.
Admission is free.
Four jazz bands – Concert Jazz Band, Lab Jazz Band, American Music Repertory Ensemble and the Purdue Jazz Band – along with an alumni band dating to the 1970s will be featured in a tribute to that decade.
Chameleon, made up of Purdue student musicians, was one of Indiana's top party bands in the 1970s. All of the members of the band trace their roots to the Purdue Jazz Department and are reuniting on Slayter Center's stage. They will also give a concert at the Lafayette Theater on Saturday (April 30). Doors open at 6 p.m. "I Got the Music in Me," "Live and Let Die" and "So Very Hard to Go" are among the 1970s hits on Chameleon's playlist.
Each of Purdue's jazz bands will take their own look at the era. Music by familiar artists, from Carole King to Earth, Wind and Fire, Buddy Rich and Woody Herman, will bring all the colors of the 1970s rainbow to the event. The Concert Jazz Band opens with King's "Corazon," from 1973, and an arrangement of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "Gotta Get You Into My Life," for Earth, Wind and Fire.
Works by the Buddy Rich Orchestra from the 1970s will be performed by the Lab Jazz Band, including "Big Swing Face," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Dancing Men." When the American Music Repertory Ensemble takes the stage, they will focus on the music of Woody Herman, with "That's Where It Is," "Brotherhood of Man" and "Woodchopper's Ball."
The Purdue Jazz Band finishes up the afternoon with such tunes as "Some Skunk Funk" by Randy Brecker, "Clementine," as Bobby Darin performed it, and "Luck Be a Lady" from the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls. "
Audiences are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for comfortable seating. Picnics are also allowed. The event closes Purdue Bands and Orchestras 2010-11 season. The Purdue Summer Concert Band will perform at Slayter at 7:30 p.m. July 19.
Contact: Kathy Matter, 765-496-6785, kcmatter@purdue.edu
Related website:
Purdue University Bands and Orchestras