Current Concert Season

Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Celebrating the legacy of Wayne Shorter (1933-2023), the legendary American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey’s “Jazz Messengers,” for whom he eventually became the primary composer. In 1964 he joined Miles Davis’ “Second Great Quintet,” and then co-founded the jazz fusion band “Weather Report” in 1970. He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader.

Many Shorter compositions have become jazz standards, and his music has earned worldwide recognition, critical praise, and commendation. He was the winner of 12 GRAMMY awards, and was acclaimed for his mastery of the soprano saxophone since switching his focus from the tenor in the late 1960s and beginning an extended reign in 1970 as DownBeat’s annual poll-winner on that instrument.

The New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff described Shorter as “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser.”

Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director.

• “A Child’s Garden of Dreams” by David Maslanka is a deeply rich piece, written as a meditation on the vivid dream images of a dying girl. It is accompanied by projections of the pastel drawings the composer made with his left hand while wrestling with the act of composing the piece.

• “Trains of Thought” by Alex Shapiro. The electronically reproduced sounds of the chords and rhythms of a high-speed train in motion weave in and out of the musical texture provided by the band.

• “Russian Christmas Music by Alfred Reed was commissioned in 1944 as a tribute to the friendship between the Russian and American allies in WWII. It celebrates the common bonds between peoples, which sustain regardless of political divisions and governmental disagreements.

• “Duplicity” by Yale College sophomore Rory Bricca represents the dance between honesty and deception that plays out subconsciously in our minds. Tonight’s performance is the world premiere.

Yale and Harvard “Battle of the Big Bands” at Sculler’s, Boston MA. The Yale Jazz Ensemble Big Band (Wayne Escoffery, Music Director) and the Harvard Jazz Band (Yosveny Terry, Music Director).

Harvard’s Jazz Band has performed worldwide, including 2017 performances in Cuba, and past concerts have included tributes to Herbie Hancock, Benny Golson, and many other important jazz artists. Performers in these concerts have included Terri Lyne Carrington, Lionel Loueke, Harold Mabern, George Coleman, Don Braden, and more.

The Yale Jazz Ensemble, a seventeen-piece big band, performs a wide variety of music, from pieces from Yale’s Benny Goodman archive to the newest, most progressive jazz compositions. The Ensemble has performed in the United States and internationally and has played with or opened for the Mingus Big Band, the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band, the World Saxophone Quartet, Jane Ira Bloom, Jimmy Owens, and Branford Marsalis.

$ Tickets. Info TBA.

Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. “Mother of a Revolution (Omar Thomas), “The Firebird” (Igor Stravinsky), “Luminance” (Shuying Li), and more.)

Wayne Escoffery, music director. Program TBA.

Yale Jazz Ensemble Big Band at Dizzy’s Club, Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Details and ticket($) info TBA. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. “Afro-American Symphony” (William Grant Still), “Medieval Suite” (Ron Nelson) “New England Triptych” (William Schuman), more.