USU Jazz Orchestra Returns From Europe, Will Play With USU Jazz Ensemble at Big Bands Concert

LOGAN, Utah — The first Big Bands concert of the season will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 in the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall. The award-winning Utah State University Jazz Orchestra will join the USU Jazz Ensemble to play classic and contemporary jazz music.

Each semester, there are multiple Big Bands concerts to hone performance skills of the students.

“We generally just included it as part of our syllabus as a scholastic kind of enterprise,” said Associate Professor of Trumpet Max Matzen. “It’s meant to be entertaining but also educational for the people in the ensemble.”

According to Matzen, this first concert is noteworthy because the USU Jazz Orchestra just returned from playing in Europe. The group was initially invited to play abroad after Matzen submitted videos of the orchestra to the coordinators of European music festivals.

“The invitation rate is 17%, and we are part of that,” Matzen said.

Ten years ago, the orchestra won the Outstanding Performance by a Large Jazz Ensemble award in the nationally recognized Downbeat Magazine. While the USU Jazz Orchestra was recognized with this honor in 2014, the group has remained at the same caliber since, Matzen said.

“The level is still the same,” Matzen said. “They respond to the challenges that we give them.”

The Big Bands concert is open to the public and free for USU students.

“Jazz music is meant for everybody. It’s not meant to be an exclusive club,” Matzen said, “even an audience full of people that have never even heard of jazz before. It’s meant to be an inclusive thing.”

Purchase tickets online or at the CCA Box Office located in the Chase Fine Arts building. For more information about Big Bands, visit the event website or call the box office at (435) 797-8022.