Skip to main content

Jazzing up a Tuesday Evening



In the cozy confines of the high school MOP room, the Rittman High School Jazz band gave a great performance Tuesday evening. The performance was evidence that these student musicians had been working hard all school year. The Jazz band took us from Cuba to New York City, covering several periods of the 20th century. We heard selections from from Ernesto Lecuona, to Isaac Hayes, to Tommy James, from many genres. It was all good.

The audience was treated to solo performances during most of the performances by various members of the band. A lot of talent was on display.

The evening of entertainment was kicked with a selection from Cuba, "Malaguena". The Jazz band then performed the 1930's classic "Blue Monk." Off to the 1960's-Bossa Nova, James Bond, style, "Bubbert Goes Undercover."

Those of enough who remember 1970's classic rock recognized the Steely Dan hit "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

A selection by big band legend Duke Ellington, "Mood Indigo" was next, followed by "Birdland".

Before a brief intermission the band performed what some think is the greatest jazz song of all time, "Sing, Sing, Sing".

After the break, the band came back with "Another Day, Another Blues". Those of us who remember the early days of "Saturday Night Live" recognized the next song, made popular in those days by Dan Akroyd and John Bellushi, the Blues Brothers, "Soul Man" written by Isaac Hayes.

"Malibu Drive" was followed by a hit by Les Brown and his Band of Renown, "Sentimental Journey", with a vocal from Sasha Caynor.

"Blue 'N Boogie", made popular by Dizzie Gillespie, was the next selection, and the evening ended with the Tommy James and the Shondells hit "Mony, Mony".

The Jazz band has a CD of their songs available for $5.00, all proceeds going to the band. After the concert, I am convinced that this collection is a great value.

We were reminded again that the band boosters(WGBB) are preparing a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for the band on June 1, from 4:30-8:00, with entertainment provided by the Jazz Band and The steel drum band.

Advance tickets for the dinner is $7.00 or $8.00 at the door .

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post 800: Time to chat

Hi Guys, It's hard to believe that this is post number 800 for this blog. I started this blog out of my desire to communicate. Since radio and television is becoming more and more automated and less and less personal, I'm glad I made the decision to go in this direction as it has given me many blessings. When I first decided to write my musings, a friend from the radio and television boards who goes by the name of newsnomore, told me not to be discouraged if I didn't get any readers. The fact that I did in the early going made me surprised and grateful that anyone was enjoying what I wrote. I've had people tell me that maybe it wasn't meant for me to ever be in radio, that maybe my calling was blogging. Nowadays I think blogging makes for better two way conversation than terrestrial radio, especially the way I do it, non confrontational. The closest I come from any confrontation is the innocent digs that Pat and I shoot at each other. On an average day I get betwee...
12 comments
Read more

Expand My Territories

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. 1 Chronicles 4:10 NIV The verse above is commonly referred to as the Prayer of Jabez. I was impressed to find my copy of the book written by Bruce Wilkinson and read it again. Some recent happenings prompted me to reflect upon how my territories have been expanded. The Lord has been blessing me and I have really not deserved these blessings. The past several years, I have been sharing my poetry with my friends on Facebook. I also share the poems with others by writing them on index cards. These are usually received with smiles and people telling me that I should write a book. For years, I have been under the belief that poets and composers achieve the greatest fame after they start decomposing.  The last year or so, I have shared my poems with some best selling author...
3 comments
Read more

From a "Battleground State"

I am going to make this one short and sweet. I live in Ohio, in this election season, one of the so called "Battleground states," a state crucial for any candidate presidential hopes. Of course we have had many visits from presidential and vice presidential candidates. Other blogs have dissected both campaigns so I will not. The only questions I have is will the promises made by either of these candidates exclusive to these states be fulfilled, or will they prove only to be hot air?
19 comments
Read more