Colleen Coleman-

The Fall Jazz Showcase will be this Sunday, November 10th at 1:30 p.m. in Bjorling Recital Hall. The performance will feature Gustavus Jazz and Jazz Lab Collective, performing classic jazz standards and modern music with a jazz twist. This showcase will be the first time both jazz ensembles at Gustavus have performed at the same concert since before the pandemic.

Gustavus Jazz will perform well known pieces of many origins, such as the popular standard It Don’t Mean a Thing composed by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, Radiohead tune All I Need arranged by Sherisse Rogers, and jazz tune Ya Gotta Try…Harder by Sammy Nestico.

“I’m really looking forward to playing Ya Gotta Try… Harder because I played its predecessor Ya Gotta Try at state jazz, so I’m excited to perform the sequel this cycle,” Sophomore Dylan Halom, who will play tenor and baritone saxophones as well as clarinet for Gustavus Jazz for the showcase, said. Ya Gotta Try… Harder expands on its first iteration and has many swinging lyrical lines, lots of high energy, and improv solos.

“There’s a lot of variety in this week’s showcase, it’s the first time both jazz groups at Gustavus are playing in the same performance since the pandemic. It should be really fun, as there’s a lot of student soloists, upbeat, danceable, big band jazz music,” The Director of Gustavus Jazz,  Dr. Dave Stamps, said.

Jazz Lab Collective will play many jazz and blues tunes, such as So What by Miles Davis and arranged by George Russell, featuring lots of chord textures and impressionistic flair, the light shuffling Miss Missouri by Benny Carter, and many more.

“We have a variety of repertoire from diverse composers and arrangers, many of whom explored the blues in their own unique ways,” The Director of Jazz Lab Collective, Dr. JC Sanford, said. They will be performing the traditional song Second Line is a medium swing based on the early New Orleans style, as well as Better Git Hit in Your Soul by Charles Mingus, one of the most well known pieces of the world-renowned African-American jazz bassist, with brilliant walking bass lines and exciting melodies.

Jazz Lab Collective is a new ensemble this year, focusing on a variety of different jazz and blues pieces.  “We didn’t know how exactly this new ensemble would work this year, in terms of participation, so I’m excited to have a full sized big band,” Dr. Sanford said.

In their first performance together since the pandemic, the Fall Jazz Showcase will feature both Gustavus Jazz and Jazz Lab Collective this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Bjorling Recital Hall. The performance will have many different pieces for all audience members to enjoy, such as jazz standards, modern radio hits, and many more.