The music of Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, John Clayton and Steely Dan all come together in a fun and wide-ranging Big Band Concert, October 30 at 7:30pm at Fort Worden’s Joseph F. Wheeler Theater. Tickets are available online, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3012, x116.
The Big Band will be led by conductor/composer/arranger Fred Sturm. "This concert is the culminating showcase of a four-day intensive Big Band workshop presented by players gathered to learn from Fred,” said Gregg Miller, Centrum’s program manager for jazz. “Fred chose the repertoire carefully to be a balance of his compositions and arrangements and music by other composers whom he likes and respects a lot. His concept was that everything on the program comes out of the blues, so the blues is what ties it all together. The concert will be a good illustration of how great Big Band can sound."
Sturm is the Director of Jazz and Improvisational Music at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. He is a frequent guest conductor/arranger for several European professional jazz ensembles including the HR (Frankfurt Radio) Big Band and the NDR (North German Radio) Big Band in Germany. Under his direction, the HR Big Band recorded his Libertango: Hommage an Astor Piazzolla and Do It Again: Three Decades of Steely Dan.
"I have known Fred's work for a long time,” said Centrum executive director John MacElwee. “As an educator and as a composer, he made a huge impact on me as a student at Lawrence University. l am anxious to hear his new charts as I know that Donald Fagen from Steely Dan was thrilled with his big band arrangements of their music. Both our participants and the audience are in for a real treat."
For more information on Fred Sturm, and Big Band Intensive, visit our Big Band page.