Friday, April 10, 2015

Preparing for the Concert? Play Along

We're into dress rehearsals for the first annual NXNVC (North by Northwest Vista) festival, Monday, April 13 through Thursday, April 16, 2015. Four funfilled evenings of music by students, faculty, and guest artists. Jazz ensemble and student-led combos are up on Thursday night. Gourmet food truck. Looking forward to it!  For more information, visit this website: PalmettoArts.org.

After sufficient careful/mindful slow work  in the practice room or woodshed, a quick--and pleasurable--way to grab a few extra run-throughs is to play along with the arranging publisher's demo recordings. 

They're easy to find with the following BIG THREE search terms on Google: "song title in parentheses" "arranger name" and the word "listen." Voilà! The audio pops up first virtually every time.

Here are some of the tunes you'll hear us perform on Thursday. Play along if you're in the band!

"Bye Bye Blackbird," arranged by Dave Rivello (James Coleman, trumpet soloist)

"Gentle Rain," arranged by Kris Berg (Andrew King, alto saxophone soloist) 

"I Got Rhythm," arranged by Dave Wolpe (A-JAM honors student Thomas Mullins, trombone soloist) 

"Straighten Up and Fly Right," Wolpe (Alisa Cotto, vocal soloist)

"How High the Moon," Wolpe (trombone section feature)

Happy practicing. Break a leg!