SAN LUIS OBISPO — After more than a year of virtual music-making, Cal Poly’s jazz groups will return to in-person concertizing at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, in the Pavilion of the Performing Arts Center.
The Cal Poly Jazz Ensemble, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and Contemporary Jazz Ensemble will be joined by the new Commercial Music Ensemble, which performs rock, Motown, funk, modern pop, video game music, and other styles of popular music from a jazz perspective. Arthur White, director of jazz studies, directs the groups.
The concert will celebrate both the return of live concerts and the release of the double album “another time, another place,” which was recorded during the pandemic from students’ homes. The CD features the Jazz Ensemble and Vocal Jazz Ensemble performing original compositions and new arrangements by White and Davis Zamboanga (Music, ’20).
The CD also features musicians considered among the top performers in jazz today: trombonist Robin Eubanks, vibraphonist Joe Locke, saxophonist Ada Rovatti, and Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker. More about the album-making process can be found in this recent Cal Poly News story.
The program will also include compositions that have been performed by the Count Basie Orchestra, Yellowjackets, Tower of Power, Aretha Franklin, New York Voices, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and others.
The “another time, another place” CD will be available for purchase at the concert, as well as “Unify,” White’s latest CD with members of the San Luis Obispo jazz community. Sales of both albums will directly benefit the Cal Poly jazz studies program.
Tickets are $20 for the public, and $10 for students and Jazz Federation members. Event parking is sponsored by the PAC. Tickets are available at the Cal Poly Ticket Office between noon and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To order by phone, call 805-SLO-4TIX (805-756-4849).
The concert is sponsored by Cal Poly’s Music Department, College of Liberal Arts, and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406 or visit its calendar website.
