[percussion fanfare]
["The Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key]
[audience applauding]
- Teresa Schroepfer: And now,
it is my distinct privilege to introduce
the 2021 WSMA High School State Honors Jazz Ensemble
and their distinguished conductor, Jamey Simmons.
[audience applauding]
Thank you so much, Jamey.
- Thank you.
Here we go.
[fingers snapping]
One, two, a one, two, a one, two.
[ In a Big Way by Dan Gailey]
[trumpet solo]
[baritone sax solo]
[audience applauding]
[trombone solo]
[audience applauding]
[double bass solo]
[audience applauding]
[trumpet solo]
[drum fill]
Honors jazz band. [audience applauding]
Stand up.
Thank you very much.
I'm Jamey Simmons, and it is really my honor
to be here working with these folks.
I'm so proud of them.
Would you just give them another hand of applause?
[audience applauding]
I always like starting programs with a blues,
so that was composer/arranger Dan Gailey's composition,
In a Big Way .
And on that, it featured Ian Johnson on the bari,
Danica Rebudiao on the bass, Charlie White on the 'bone.
'Bone, that's what I always call trombones.
That's a jazz thing.
It translates to trombone.
Zack Fitzgerald on the trumpet, Ben Johnson on lead trumpet.
He was on that one on the lead.
And Fletcher Myhre on drums.
Would you give them a hand, the soloists?
[audience applauding]
So this represents a lot of work
and a lot of stuff that I didn't anticipate
a couple years ago actually
when I was asked to come lead the band,
and then this summer,
"Oh, you're gonna lead it for three days virtually."
Hmm, and I said, "Yeah, how do you do that?"
[audience laughing]
So, but listen, basically this is two days
of live rehearsal with these guys.
So that's pretty amazing. [audience applauding]
I'm at Middle Tennessee State University,
and I don't know, two days of rehearsal with my band?
I'm not sure.
So maybe we can hire you guys as sidemen sometime.
We're going to go on and do a tune.
This is also a blues, but it's a little bit different.
It's called Chicken on the Hill with Will ,
and it needs a little bit of explanation.
This was by my colleague, sax player Don Aliquo.
And he wrote it because in Pittsburgh
when the Pittsburgh Pirates would win a playoff game,
the radio announcer would say,
"And tonight it's chicken on the hill with Will."
Well, that was Willie Stargell.
That's Willie Stargell, he owned a chain of restaurants.
And so this is kind of a dedication
to the music of Pittsburgh in that area.
This is Chicken on the Hill with Will .
It's going to feature Aidan Stewart on the tenor
and Tony Nguyen on the guitar and Fletcher again on the drums,
and Adeline Goeltl on the lead trumpet on this one.
So hope you enjoy this.
This is Chicken on the Hill with Will .
One, two, a one, two, three, four.
[jaunty music]
[ Chicken on the Hill with Will by Don Aliquo]
[tenor sax solo]
[ Chicken on the Hill with Will by Don Aliquo]
[audience applauding]
[electric guitar solo]
[ Chicken on the Hill with Will by Don Aliquo]
[drum solo]
[audience applauding]
[piano solo]
[audience applauding]
I told you about the soloists, but that was probably
the most deadliest, dangerous sax soli
I think I've ever written.
And saxes, stand up. [audience applauding]
Thank you.
I remember back in 1995,
I got to play in the Glenn Miller Band for a year,
and one of the players handed me this CD
and said, "You gotta listen to this."
'Cause I was sort of writing some music
and thought I was maybe kind of good at it.
And then they gave me this CD
of a composer/arranger named Maria Schneider,
and the music just grabbed a hold of me.
Because I had known the tradition
up to that point in writing,
whether it was Ellington and Strayhorn
all the way up to people like Gil Evans
and Bob Brookmeyer and Thad Jones.
But when I heard her music, it was,
well, first of all, spoke to me as a Midwesterner.
I'm from West Bend, Wisconsin myself.
And so as a Minnesotan, she has a very interesting approach
that I think sometimes sounds a little Midwestern.
We're going to play a tune by Maria Schneider now,
and we're going to feature on tenor Ashley Tyson.
Would you give her a hand?
This is called My Lament . [audience applauding]
[pensive music]
[ My Lament by Maria Schneider]
[saxophone solo]
[ My Lament by Maria Schneider]
[audience applauding]
Ashley Tyson.
Woo!
That's just beautiful.
Congratulations, Ashley. - Ashley: Thank you.
- I forgot my notes.
They made me all flustered.
We're going to go now to a writer from,
a writer and trombone player actually from Colorado.
I really like his music
and gotten to play with him a little bit
and get to know him.
His name is Paul McKee.
He wrote this one; it's called Bitter Jug .
And in jazz, we have this tradition
of writing tunes over existing chord changes.
And originally, this was an old tune
from the kind of swing era called Jitterbug Waltz ,
and this has nothing to do with a jitterbug anymore
or a waltz.
So it's his rewriting of this tune.
It's going to feature a couple folks.
Ben Lukszys on piano, Ben Johnson on trumpet,
Ezra Dennis on alto, and Thomas McGowan on the 'bone,
or the trombone, whichever is your preference.
Also, another one of our drummers,
they have a lot of duties up here,
he gets to play a lot of soloing on this tune,
and it's been really fun to hear him grow
between the summer rehearsal and between now.
Actually all these soloists.
Alex Cope on drums.
This is Bitter Jug .
[fingers snapping]
One, two, one, two, a one and--
[energetic music]
[ Bitter Jug by Paul McKee]
[piano solo]
[audience applauding]
[trumpet solo]
[ Bitter Jug by Paul McKee]
[saxophone solo]
[audience applauding]
[trombone solo]
[drum solo]
[audience applauding]
Alex Cope on the drums.
Great job, band, great job.
Well, before our final medley of tunes here,
I'd like to just say my words of thanks to WSMA.
You have been so hospitable, and I thank you.
It's really a testament to Wisconsin hospitality,
and all the things that you have going on here
are so wonderful.
So thank you, Vickie.
Thank you to the section coaches.
Thank you, guys.
I really appreciate all your work, your encouragement,
helping me through some things that I had never done before.
So I'd also like to thank the parents.
I know I saw all of you standing up.
Thank you so much.
I know what it's like to have a child that plays music,
and it's really a cool thing.
And I know that it meant a lot of hauling them around
at odd times of the day and night,
and I appreciate your work
and that they're able to spend time with me up here so much.
This is very special, thank you.
Can we have a round of applause for those parents again?
[all applauding]
Also I want to thank Jay,
the sound engineer out here, for his work,
and Buzz who's doing the live recording here.
Thank you both for being so easy to work with
and doing such a great job.
Students, I want to thank you
for your hard work, your perseverance.
Keep going, okay.
There's a lot of special talent in this group.
I want to encourage you to just keep going
and develop and think what you have to offer
to the world of music and the world at large.
So it's been wonderful
that we've all come together for this concert.
So thank you so much.
[audience applauding]
We're going to close with really two more tunes
that are kind of rolled into one.
It's a medley of the music of Charles Mingus.
We took a canon,
which is actually is kind of a classical device,
and turned it into...
Well, we don't really know how this is gonna go.
'Cause it's been different every time, right, band?
I have some conducting cues,
and we do some free improvisation through this tune,
and we don't know how it's gonna go.
And it's going to kind of be joined together
with a tune called Better Get Hit in Your Soul .
And Danica, who you've heard on bass,
is going to kind of be the glue
that holds the two tunes together.
You'll hear, on alto saxophone,
you'll hear Caroline Gates on a solo on this.
Mira Torbey on the trombone also.
And I think you heard from Zach already on the trumpet
and Ashley on tenor.
Also Ezra and Ian.
So this is our Charles Mingus medley.
Thank you very much for being a great audience, okay?
Hope to see you again soon.
- Musician: And Aidan.
[audience applauding]
[suspenseful music]
[ Canon/Better Get Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus]
[relaxed music]
[trumpet solo]
[saxophone solo]
[trumpet solo]
[ Canon/Better Get Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus]
[double bass solo]
[lively music]
[audience applauding]
[ Canon/Better Get Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus]
[trombone solo]
[audience applauding]
[saxophone solo]
[ Canon/Better Get Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus]
[audience applauding]
[soprano sax solo]
[audience applauding]
[saxophone solo]
[ Canon/Better Get Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus]
[audience applauding]
[ Canon/Better Get Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus]
[energetic ending note]
[audience applauding]
- The WSMA Wisconsin Honors Jazz Ensemble.
Take a bow.
Come and get their autographs now.
Thank you very much; you've been a great audience.
[audience applauding]