Essentially Ellington Regional Jazz Festival Concert featuring Synthesis
directed by Benjamin Nichols
with special guest soloist Joshua Redman
7:30 PM | FEBRUARY 15, 2025 | CONCERT HALL | MUSIC BUILDING
PROGRAM
Tutti for Cootie
DUKE ELLINGTON AND JIMMY HAMILTON 1899–1974; 1917–1994
Trans. by David Berger
I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good) .............. DUKE ELLINGTON AND PAUL FRANCIS WEBSTER 1907–1984
Arr. Billy Strayhorn; Trans. by David Berger; Edited by Mark Lopeman
Perdido ........................................
H.J. LENGSFELDER, ERVIN DRAKE, AND JUAN TIZOL 1903–1979; 1919–2015; 1900–1984
Arr. Duke Ellington, Trans. by David Berger for Jazz at Lincoln Center
Boogielastic
JOSHUA REDMAN b. 1969
Arr. Ansgar Striepens
Prelude to a Kiss DUKE ELLINGTON
317 East 32nd Street LENNIE TRISTANO 1919–1978
Home Fries ................................................................
Arr. Brian Woodbury
CEREMONY —
In a Mellow Tone ...........................................................
Arr. Frank Foster
The Deserving Many ......................................................
Arr. Jonathan Crane
Can a Good Thing Last Forever?
Jazz Crimes
Arr. Marty Bodell
Arr. Sam Handley and Jacob Golden Ward
DUKE ELLINGTON
JOSHUA REDMAN
JOSHUA REDMAN
JOSHUA REDMAN
JOSHUA REDMAN
SAXOPHONES
Marty Bodell
Alex Daniels
Hyrum Baird
Spencer Carlson
Jonathan Crane
TROMBONES
Kevin West
Graeme Clavton
Ezra Baldemar
Darien Oborn
Conducted by Benjamin Nichols
TRUMPETS
Bryant Jordan
Parker Blackington
Ian Pratt
Desarae Millet
Luke Gunnerson
Ryan Coons
RHYTHM SECTION
Sam Handley, guitar
Heather Cutler, piano
Simon McBride, bass
Jacob Ward, drums
Dallin Jepsen, aux percussion
VOCALS
Hanna Eyre
BIOGRAPHIES
Joshua Redman
Guest Artist
Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists to have emerged in the 1990s. Born in Berkeley, California, he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. In 1991 Redman graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude and had already been accepted by Yale Law School, but he deferred entrance for what he believed was only going to be one year. Instead, he moved to New York City and immediately found himself immersed in the city’s burgeoning jazz scene. Five months later Redman was named winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Since then, Redman has worked and played with a vast array of jazz luminaries, released over 20 albums (Warner & Nonesuch), and garnered top honors in critics and readers polls of DownBeat, Jazz Times, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone
Chris Behrens
Originally from Watertown, Wisconsin, Chris Behrens attended the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), where he earned a degree in jazz studies (piano) and teacher certification. In 2010 Mr. Behrens received his master of music education from VanderCook College (Chicago) and his National Board Certification in 2014. He has studied jazz piano with John Harmon, Tony Caramia, Michael Kocour, and Mark Davis.
Mr. Behrens has taught full-time since 1996 in the School District of Beloit (Wisconsin). From 1996 to 2001 he taught at Aldrich Middle School, and he currently teaches at Beloit Memorial High School, where he directs the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Pep Band, Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, and Jazz Combos and teaches a course in jazz improvisation. Under his direction, the Jazz Orchestra has been an Essentially Ellington Finalist Band for 12 out of the past 16 years. He has been an adjudicator for WSMA for the past 25 years and has been the WSMA State Honors Jazz Band Coordinator/Rhythm Section Coach and WMEA Jazz Chair. He also serves as clinician and adjudicator for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Regional Essentially Ellington Festivals, held throughout the United States.
BIOGRAPHIES
Paul Nedzela
Paul Nedzela has performed with Wess Anderson, George Benson, the Birdland Big Band, Bill Charlap, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, Michael Feinstein, Benny Golson, Wycliffe Gordon, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Eric Reed, Dianne Reeves, Herlin Riley, Maria Schneider, Frank Sinatra, Jr., the Temptations, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Reginald Veal, and Max Weinberg. He has also performed in Twyla Tharp’s Broadway show Come Fly Away and in major festivals throughout the world.
He has studied with some of the foremost baritone saxophonists in the world, including Joe Temperely, Gary Smulyan, and Roger Rosenberg. While pursuing his musical studies, Paul graduated with honors in 2006 from McGill University in Montreal with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics. A recipient of the Samuel L. Jackson scholarship award, he continued his musical studies at the Juilliard School and graduated with a master of music degree in 2008.
Corey Christiansen
Corey Christiansen is becoming recognized as one of the world’s preeminent guitarists and educators. A recording artist, writer, educator, and performer, he has played and taught in literally every type of situation around the globe for the last decade. He has played with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Vic Juris, Danny Gottlieb, Jeff Coffin, James Moody, Steve Houghton, Jeremy Allen, and many, many other jazz greats.
Corey has authored or coauthored over 70 method books and projects for Mel Bay Publications. He has written many articles for many of the major guitar magazines in North America and DownBeat magazine. He has developed the Modern Guitar Community, an online guitar-learning site. He currently is the music head at Education Advantage (an online accredited high school), and he is on the board of advisors for musiclessons.com. Corey currently teaches at Utah State University and has taught as an adjunct professor at the famed Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (2008–2013) and BYU–Idaho, and he is an outreach educator for Caleb Chapman Music. He is also an artist-in-residence at Atlanta Institute of Music (Atlanta, Georgia) and Broadway Music School (Denver, Colorado).
BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Ray Smith holds a bachelor of music education from BYU, along with master and doctor of music degrees in woodwinds performance from Indiana University. He has over 130 CD credits and has recorded on many film scores and television themes and jingles such as The Sandlot, Mi Familia, The Swan Princess, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Ricky Lake Show, Buick, Chevy, etc., and many Canadian and German television and radio themes. Dr. Smith performs periodically with the Utah Symphony and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and is a regular with the Utah Saxophone Quartet and Q’d Up, the BYU faculty jazz quintet.
Smith also does clinics and performances at colleges and high schools and adjudicates at jazz festivals. In the summers, he teaches at various jazz workshops, including the Birch Creek Jazz Camp in Wisconsin, where he received the Woody Herman Award for musical excellence and professionalism. In 1998 Smith was the recipient of the Voice of Jazz Award for the State of Utah. His newest CD, Q’d Up, is currently receiving considerable airplay around the country.
Ray Smith