7:30 pm
Vic Juba Community Theatre
Box Office: 780-872-7400
Age 22 & Older: $34.00
21 & Under: $19.00
FRIENDS REMEMBERED TOUR – Background
By Ross Ulmer
I was invited to play second trombone with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra about three years ago – and boy was it FUN. The lead trombone player was fantastic as was the lead Trumpet and it felt GREAT to play in a really good Jazz Ensemble. The last time I can remember being in a band that good was at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts where I taught at Jazz camp – and had the pleasure of playing a big band concert every night with some of the best musicians, and educators in North America. It was thrilling and powerful every single night. Last year I had the good fortune to be invited to play a feature number with the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra. When I introduced the tune to the audience I dedicated it to my friend Frank who had arranged it (who has passed away) and for another friend (Ashley) who had played it (who also passed away). It was SO much fun remembering their music (he was an incredible arranger) and within a week of playing that concert the idea was born.
In the seventies as I pursued a musical career I had the good fortune to study with some incredible musicians, from Frank Rosolino through Rich Matteson (a prime influence for my attending North Texas State University) and Phil Wilson. In my formative years I had incredible guidance from my first band leader Norm Lehman and was given a free hand at the University of Saskatchewan to pursue interests in Dance Band and Jazz Ensemble even though formal instruction was not available.
My vision of this concert tour is twofold, one to create the best large Jazz Ensemble possible so I can get the thrill of playing that comes only with playing with the very best players, and players who love the music enough to practice their parts! And the second is to recreate the excitement for the audience that I felt when I first fell in love with Big Band Jazz. That needs some background to understand. I tell you with some embarrassment that the only trombone record I had until about the age of 20 was a couple of Tommy Dorsey albums of my dad’s. So in 1972 (I think!) – the Saskatchewn Summer School of the Arts brought in the National Stage Band Camps (and continued until 1987). I hadn’t heard of the artists (Phil Wilson, a young Lyle Mays & Lou Marini, John LaPorta, Wes Hensel, Rich Matteson, Ashley Alexander and the list goes on!) but a group of us went down to ‘check it out’. Each night the staff put on a concert – and this was the first live (or on record!) Jazz Ensemble I had ever heard – well from the first note of that first concert to the last – my leg wouldn’t quit moving in time to the music (not my foot – my whole leg!) – and the smile didn’t leave my face as I was literally thrilled with the music, the soloists – it was tremendous. The mission of this concert tour to give students and adults – a bit of that thrill.
My preference in jazz, classical or pop is for music with great melodies and as a result I’ve chose selections that I believe everyone will find listenable and enjoyable no matter what their background. I’ve also chosen every selection with either a friend or a mentor I have played or studied with. For example, the very first selection of the night will be Wood Chopper’s Ball – a tune that we played under Norm Lehman’s direction (though we have chosen the Woody Herman arrangement from that time period) in the NBCK show band. I’m hunting down an unpublished version of Alfie to feature one of our trumpet players, and Frank Mantooth (the arranger and friend who has passed away) wrote a beautiful arrangement for a piano ballad on ‘Young and Foolish’. This is my way of telling anyone considering coming to this concert – that not only will the quality of the musicians be fantastic – I absolutely know you will enjoy the actual selections – this is a concert you’ll remember with joy!
Finally I end with two short stories that convinced me this concert tour was meant to be. My mentor (and occasional teacher) Phil Wilson had written a rollicking fun (and humorous) tune called Colonel Corn (because of all the Corney licks in it – really!) that was played often when I was teaching at the summer jazz camp in the late seventies and eighties. This is no longer available in print. Phil still teaches at Berklee in Boston so I went out on a limb and sent him an email asking if he had a copy and if I could buy it from him. Within two weeks he had sent me a copy, free of charge! One of my favorite parts of playing with the RCMP Band for two years was the trombone section – one of the arrangers from the band wrote a number of really fantastic trombone section features. I got a hold of him and asked him if he could rework an arrangement of ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ for Jazz Ensemble – and the answer was YES at a price so ridiculously low for the arrangement that I had to increase the fee (at some point – it felt like theft!). This concert is meant to be!
