MJE Program - Spring 2026

Mason Jazz Ensemble Spring Concert Special Guest Conductor and Arranger Vaughn Wiester Jazz Studies Department Jim Carroll, Director, Mason Jazz Ensemble

Thursday, February 26, 2026 8 p.m.

Harris Theatre

PROGRAM

Selected from the following Whistle While You Work

Pork Pie Hat

Meet the Flintstones

Joe Avery’s Piece Swing House

Frank Churchill arr. Dennis DiBlasio Charles Mingus arr. Sy Johnson William Hanna, Joseph Barbara and Hoyt Curtin arr. Dave Barduhn The Band Gerry Mulligan

Intermission Riff

Ray Wetzel

Makin’ Whoopee

Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn arr. Dave Barduhn

Basin Street Blues

Spencer Williams arr. Vaughn Wiester

Corcovado

Antonio Carlos Jobim and Gene Lees arr. Vaughn Wiester

Peter Gunn

Henry Mancini arr. Vaughn Wiester

ENSEMBLE MEMBERS Saxophone Jeremy Fagen, alto Jonathan Velez, alto Art Martin, tenor David Owens, tenor Ivanna De León Casas, bari

Trumpet Steven Blake Alexander Romanov Jacob Mendoza Amanda Araujo

Trombone Chappy Hall Anthony Rodriguez Alex Pepin Brandon Buford Steve Bectel

Rhythm Section Adam Lenahan, voice Jebb Saraum, piano Ponenya Min, bass Clay Cottis, drums Michael DeMarco, drums David O’Malley, guitar Phillip Todd, vibes

ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE The Mason Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Carroll, offers opportunities for improvisation, performance, recording, writing, leadership and service. This ensemble has performed at venues including the Shanghai Concert Hall (Beijing, China), Center for the Arts, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Jazz4Justice™ concerts, Blues Alley, Chantilly Jazz Festival, Law Day and the Jazz Education Network/JENerations Jazz Festival.

OUR FEATURED GUEST After a hitch as a Navy musician, Vaughn Wiester arrived in Columbus in 1968 to attend The Ohio State University, beginning a lifelong relationship with one of America’s most vibrant jazz communities. He quickly became a central figure on the scene, performing with the Dave Workman Blues Band and forging a lasting association with the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus under the leadership of Ray Eubanks.

In 1974, Wiester was invited to join the legendary Woody Herman Orchestra, an experience that placed him squarely within the living tradition of great American big bands. Returning to Columbus in 1977, he was soon added to the pioneering Jazz Studies program at Capital University, where he taught, mentored, and helped shape generations of musicians over a remarkable seventeen-year tenure.

Wiester’s arrangements have been recorded by the Woody Herman Orchestra, Waldo’s Ragtime Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the Keith Henson Octet, reflecting a voice that is both deeply rooted in swing-era craftsmanship and unmistakably personal. In 1997, he formed his own 22-piece ensemble, the Famous Jazz Orchestra, a living laboratory for large-ensemble jazz that continues to thrive today. The orchestra is currently in residence at Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Grandview Ohio, presenting Monday night performances that have become a treasured fixture in the region’s cultural life.

A true “musician’s musician,” Vaughn Wiester defies easy categorization. Equally fluent discussing Bach or Bird, Alexander Zemlinsky or Bill Holman, he embodies a rare synthesis of intellectual rigor, historical depth, and joyful swing. His expertise has been sought at the highest levels of the jazz world, including by Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he served as an advisor for their Stan Kenton tribute. Above all, Wiester’s legacy lives on through the many performers, educators, and bandleaders he has guided—artists who carry forward his values of integrity, curiosity, and devotion to the music.

I know of no group [apart from jazz musicians] which has such direction in work. They aim at excellence and apparently at nothing else. They are hard to buy and if bought they either backslide into honesty or lose the respect of their peers. And this is a loss that terrifies them. In any other field of American life, great rewards can be used to cover a loss of honesty, but not with jazz players - a slip is known and recognized instantly. And further, they do not compare with those in other professions. Let a filthy kid, unknown, unheard of and unbacked sit in -- and if he can do it -- he is recognized and accepted instantly.

Do you know of any other field where this is true? And this curious search for and treasuring of excellence is the one thing that has never been said of them nor written of them.

- John Steinbeck, Forward to Eddie Condon's Scrapbook of Jazz, 1973

H.CON.RES 57

Passed by the 100th Congress of the United States of America Introduced by the Honorable John Conyers Jr. Whereas, jazz has achieved preeminence throughout the world as an indigenous American music and art form, bringing to this country and the world a uniquely American musical synthesis and culture through the African-American experience and 1. makes evident to the world an outstanding artistic model of individual expression and democratic cooperation within the creative process, thus fulfilling the highest ideals and aspirations of our republic, 2. is a unifying force, bridging cultural, religious, ethnic and age differences in our diverse society, 3. is a true music of the people, finding its inspiration in the cultures and most personal experiences of the diverse peoples that constitute our Nation, 4. has evolved into a multifaceted art form which continues to birth and nurture new stylistic idioms and cultural fusions, 5. has had an historic, pervasive and continuing influence on other genres of music both here and abroad, and 6. has become a true international language adopted by musicians around the world as a music best able to express contemporary realities from a personal perspective; Whereas, this great American musical art form has not yet been properly recognized nor accorded the institutional status commensurate with its value and importance; Whereas, it is important for the youth of America to recognize and understand jazz as a significant part of their cultural and intellectual heritage; Whereas, in as much as there exists no effective national infrastructure to support and preserve jazz; Whereas, documentation and archival support required by such a great art form has yet to be systematically applied to the jazz field; and Whereas, it is now in the best interest of the national welfare and all of our citizens to preserve and celebrate this unique art form; Now, therefore be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that it is the sense of the Congress that jazz is hereby designated as a rare and valuable national American treasure to which we should devote our attention, support and resources to make certain it is preserved, understood and promulgated.

Passed by the House of Representatives September 23, 1987 Passed by the Senate December 4, 1987

George Mason University Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music For more information and a complete listing of concerts and recitals, visit the web site at music.gmu.edu

George Mason University is a registered All-Steinway School