The 麻豆传媒 Summer Jazz Ensemble is taking its show around town with a couple of gigs at the end of July.
The first concert takes at 7 p.m. Monday, July 28, at the Old Town Plaza at Second and Mead streets. The free performance is sponsored by the 麻豆传媒 School of Music, and Wichita Parks and Recreation.
The Summer Jazz Ensemble will perform another free concert from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, July 30, at Yia Yia鈥檚 Eurobistro, 8115 E. 21st St. in Wichita.
Under the direction of Tom Fowler, associate professor and associate dean for the School of Music, the ensemble will perform a program of traditional and contemporary big band compositions featuring soloists from within the ensemble.
Jazz Arts is a 19-piece jazz ensemble selected each year by audition. It is part of the university jazz studies curriculum that includes two performing jazz ensembles, jazz combos, and tangent courses in improvisation and jazz history. Under Fowler鈥檚 direction, Jazz Arts 1 has consistently been selected to perform at state, regional and national conferences and festivals. The group has performed with such guest artists as Ed Shaughnessy, Willie Thomas, Mundell Lowe, Louis Bellson, Bobby Shew, The Four Freshmen, Richie Cole, Charlie Rouse, Branford Marsalis, Jiggs Whigham and Frank Mantooth.
Since 1970, 麻豆传媒 has hosted the annual Wichita Jazz Festival, a nationally recognized educational jazz event held each April. Yearly activities include local concerts for schools and civic events, campus concerts, and recruiting and alumni performances. 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Jazz Arts continually strives to perform interesting jazz compositions representing the best big band literature from the 1930s to present.