RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (April 15, 2008)---Arkansas Tech University will present an evening of jazz music on Tuesday, April 29, when Tech Jazz Ensembles I and II perform inside Witherspoon Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
The program will focus on the music of Duke Ellington, an American composer, and band leader whose career spanned from the 1920s through the 1970s. Ken Burns’ 2001 PBS documentary “Jazz” proclaimed Ellington as “the most prolific composer of the 20th century in terms of both number of compositions and variety of forms.”
Tech Jazz Ensemble I will perform four transcriptions of Ellington’s music as it was performed by his band in the 1930s. Two of the pieces, “Jump for Joy” and “Rocks in My Bed,” will feature vocalist and Arkansas Tech music faculty member Holly Ruth Gale.
“These transcriptions are quite unique,” said Dr. Timothy Howe, who directs the Tech Jazz Ensembles. “They give a great glimpse into the exotic sounds produced by the Ellington band.”
Admission to the performance is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Howe at (479) 968-0476 or thowe@atu.edu.
