Many Things to Share

I'm catching up here on a number of posts I've meant to publish. There are blurbs on the Jazz100, the Evanston Jazz Fest, the music of John Adams, recent DHS Band happenings, and a Montréal trip update. Enjoy!

Want to see a list of the top 100 jazz songs ever? Jazz fans around the world (including yours truly)voted on the Jazz24 website, and the results can be found here. You can also hear streaming audio of the tunes. Some commenters have said that this list is too "mainstream" or "obvious," but I disagree. It's a great introduction to what most people consider the standard jazz canon. Once familiar with these tunes, a listener can branch off into many different niches like the avant garde, third stream, acid jazz, or other areas.

DHS Highlights: The Jazz Band had a very successful day at the Evanston Jazz Festival. The two adjudicators, Audrey Morrison and Tom Tallman, were very complimentary. They singled out Rahm Silverglade, Nathan Fertig, and Aaron Gundersheimer as outstanding soloists. We really enjoyed the evening performance of Italian bassist Maurizio Rolli, who knocked us out with his tribute to Jaco Pastorius. Next up for us is a senior citizen performance at the Patty Turner Senior Center in Deerfield. Our Valentine's Day Eve playlist will be "Stompin' at the Savoy," "My Funny Valentine," and "In the Mood."

I have been talking to the orchestra students today about John Adams (the composer, not the president). He is probably the most famous and most performed living American composer (outside of film composers like John Williams). He is best known for his operas, including Nixon in China, and his 9/11 remembrance On the Transmigration of Souls, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize and three Grammy awards in 2005. When the orchestra students travel to New York next week, they will have the opportunity to see Adams conduct the Juilliard Orchestra in a performance of his City Noir. While doing some background research for my presentations, I found Adams' personal website, earbox.com, which is fascinating--check it out!

Just an update on our post-concert activities...

Concert Band is currently sightreading orchestral transcriptions (Ritual Fire Dance and Funeral March of a Marionette). All of the juniors are working on their ethnomusicology papers and the jazzers are learning transcribed solos. In Symphonic Band, each student is writing a melody based on the dorian scale, which they will be playing for each other next week. I'll post some of the best examples. Wind Ensemble members are working on their chamber ensembles for the 3/18 festival, and music theory students are writing 8-bar chorales for four voices in the style of J.S. Bach.

Trip update...

While in Montréal, we will have a clinic with Alain Cazes, director of the McGill University Wind Symphony. We'll also see him perform as the tubist in the Orchestre Métropolitain, in a concert featuring two newly commissioned works and Bruckner's 4th symphony. It sounds very exciting!