USU's 'At the Performance Hall’ Has Jazzy Beginning

“At the Performance Hall,” a scholarship benefit concert series for Utah State University’s Department of Music, kicks off with a jazzy beginning — the Larry Smith Jazz Kicks Band, that is.

The Jazz Kicks Band, directed by Smith, opens the June series with a performance Monday, June 1, at USU’s Performance Hall (approximately 1090 E. 675 North, Logan). Performance time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds from the concert go directly to scholarships in USU’s music department.

 

Tickets are available in advance at the Caine School of the Arts Box Office in the Chase Fine Arts Center, Room 139B, online or call (435) 797-8022. Tickets are also available at the door performance evenings.

 

Smith, a long-time music and jazz educator at USU, has assembled a program that features numbers originally recorded by jazz legends, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Les Brown, Stan Kenton and others.

 

Musicians in the Jazz Kicks Band are drawn from the Cache Valley community and many are Smith’s former students and colleagues. Band members include Smith and fellow saxophonists Greg Wheeler, Tyler Whittaker, Mike Reeder and Jon Gudmundson; trumpeters Hal Briggs, J. Paul Ward, Grayson Osborne and Jared Nicholson; trombonists Roger Karren, Andrew Watkins, Mark Quintero and Todd Fallis; pianist Ryan Conger; guitarist Brad Writing; bassist Jim Schaub; and drummer Travis Taylor. Vocals are by Karlee Heaps and Liz Woolley.

 

A roundup of program selections includes clarinetist Greg Wheeler as featured soloist on Benny Goodman’s Stompin at the Savoy. Karlee Heaps will sing Why Don’t You Do Right, recorded by Goodman’s band with singer Peggy Lee, and Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing features drummer Travis Taylor. Gene Krupa’s version of Opus One, which originally featured a vocal by Anita O’Day, will be sung by Liz Wooley.

 

Many of the band’s members will be in the spotlight during the evening in featured solos. Additional selections include Duke Eillington’s Main Stem and In a Mellow Tone, Glenn Miller’s In the Mood and American Patrol and Les Brown’s I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm and Frenesi.

 

Smith promises an even of classic big band music.

 

At the Performance Hall is a series of six concerts in June that spotlight the talents of USU music faculty members, friends of the Department of Music and invited guests. All artists donate their time and talents so that all concert proceeds can go to scholarship funds, said Department Head Craig Jessop.

 

“We want our guests to experience the beauty of the architecture and unmatched acoustics of the Performance Hall,” Jessop said. “It is a beautiful venue for a relaxing, informal summer series. We invite everyone to join us.”

 

For information on the summer series, contact the music department, (435) 797-3015. Up next is the Fry Street Quartet, a recent recipient of the “Best in State” award. The Fry Street performance is Monday, June 8.

 

 

Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354
Contact: Craig Jessop (435) 797-3031