Backstage Jazz: Big Bands and B-Sides

Friday: Join the R&D Big Band for a night of fresh, fun big band jazz, directed by legendary Michigan Tech Professor Emeritus Mike Irish. JazTec, Michigan Tech’s top small jazz group, and the Video Game Music Ensemble, a student-led ensemble dedicated to arranging and performing music from popular video games, open the concert. Saturday: Join the Jazz Lab Band for an exciting night of big band compositions by Pontiac, Michigan-born trumpeter, composer, and arranger Thad Jones. Directed by Drew Kilpela, Lab Band will perform Jones’ classic arrangements for his own group, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, alongside seldom heard selections from his time in the Count Basie orchestra, arrangements he wrote for trumpeter Harry James in 1963, and a daring vocal arrangement of the standard “Bye Bye Blackbird” written for R&B singer Ruth Brown. Workshop Brass Band kicks off the night with high-energy New Orleans brass band music. (Earplugs and dancing shoes recommended!)