The Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band, Wayne Escoffery Music Director, will perform at Dizzy’s Club in New York. With guest artists Orrin Evans and Steve Davis. Two sets: 7:00 and 9:00 pm.
“Everyone has a Christmas album, but this one, for sure, is distinctive, different, and delightful. And a worthy successor to Ellington and Strayhorn.” — Richard J Salvucci, All About Jazz
“The Pan American Nutcracker Suite is an aural tour de force, an all-encompassing, immersive sound experience.” — music writer Ken Micallef
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director.
In celebration of his 50th birthday and 8th year at Yale, Escoffery reflects on musical collaborations with friends and colleagues, featuring big band arrangements and compositions by:
• David Gibson: Trombonist, composer, arranger, educator, musical director, and bandleader, and member of Orrin Evans’ GRAMMY-nominated Captain Black Big Band
• Steve Davis: Trombonist, composer, bandleader, and The Hartt School Associate Professor of Music, named JJA Trombonist of the Year for four years
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Season opener. Featuring music by John Coltrane and NEA Jazz Masters Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Frank Foster, and George Coleman.
Director of Bands Thomas C. Duffy celebrated his 40th year at Yale in 2022. As a special gift, Yale Bands alumni and friends mounted a fundraising campaign to honor him by naming an annual concert after him. In perpetuity, the Band’s April concert will be “The Thomas C. Duffy Yale Concert Band Spring Concert,” the program of which will include one of his wind band compositions.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. “Dust” for wind ensemble and brass quintet by Jennifer Jolley, feat. guest artists Seraph Brass (all-women quintet)
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Program:
● Gustav Holst composed his “First Suite in Eb for Military Band” in 1909. This milestone in the history of band literature is one of the few early band originals that has been transcribed for symphony orchestra. The Yale Concert Band is pleased to welcome Yale staff and faculty musicians to join this performance (click link below for music and information on how to join.)
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Yale’s wind symphony opens its season with music by composers and soloists from Venezuela and Mexico:
● “Fuga con Pajarillo.” Composer Aldemaro Romero combined a pajarillo (a waltz-like Venezuelan dance) with a complex fugue (a form of musical imitation, like a round) to create this exhilarating piece that features a break for traditional Venezuelan instruments (including bass and maracas) and virtuosic cadenzas for harp and cuatro (guitar). Guest artist Hector Molina, cuatro.
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Celebratory music and Yale songs on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. Outdoors on the Old Campus (chairs provided).
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Celebrating American drummer and composer Max Roach (1924-2007) and his commitment to championing equality and social justice through music.
The program will feature two movements of his avant-garde jazz album and vocal-instrumental suite “We Insist!” (subtitled Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite”) on themes related to the Civil Rights Movement. Both movements were orchestrated and arranged specifically for the YJE Big Band by Michael Philip Mossman.
