Pacific Jazz Ensembles Joe Mazzaferro, director Marcus Shelby, guest double bass
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 7:30 pm Faye Spanos Concert Hall
17TH PERFORMANCE OF 2026–27 ACADEMIC YEAR
OCTOBER 21, 2026, 7:30 PM Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) arr. Tom Kubis
Star Spangled Banner (1814)
Carla Bley (1936–2023)
Baseball (2000)
Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues (2017) Prelude (Shadow Ball) Fleetwood and Welday Pittsburgh Crawfords New York Cubans Barnstormin Kansas City Monarchs (Black Ball Swing)
No Joy in Mudville (1988)
Marcus Shelby (b. 1966)
Bill Holman (1927–2024)
Special thanks to the Winchell and Heal Families for their generous support of Marcus Shelby's residency provided through the Niko Winchell Memorial Fund, established by Sonya and Alex Winchell and Niki and Earl Heal to honor Niko's love of jazz and support exceptional musical experiences for students. View digital programs at issuu.com/MusicAtPacific
PROGRAM NOTES Key: Star Spangled Banner The Star-Spangled Banner has been a long-standing tradition at baseball games since it was first introduced during the seventh-inning stretch of game one of the 1918 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. Following World War II, Major League Baseball moved the tradition from the seventh inning to the pre-game ceremonies. Tonight’s arrangement comes from the pen of Los Angeles-based arranger Tom Kubis. —Joe Mazzaferro Bley: Baseball Baseball appeared on pianist and composer Carla Bley’s 2000 album 4x4, which, according to jazz critic David Adler, features “a batch of compositions . . . informed by Bley’s distinctive brand of tongue-in-cheek playfulness.” This playfulness is evident in this Latin-based work, which is peppered with the kinds of organ motifs one hears at the ballpark. While originally written for a strippeddown version of her big band, we have adapted it to fit the entire ensemble. —Joe Mazzaferro Shelby: Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues is a musical suite that pays tribute to the rich history of Negro League Baseball, which lasted 60 years from 1887 to 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Some of the greatest players who played during this time period included Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Smokey Joe Williams, Buck Leonard, and others such as Willie Mays, Larry Doby, and Hank Aaron who went on to become Hall of Fame legends in Major League Baseball. Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues also highlights the owners, teams, and cities that popularized the sport, such as the Pittsburgh Crawfords, New York Cubans, Chicago American Giants, and Kansas City Monarchs, just to name a few. The music is composed for big band and brings to life the sound of baseball with blues, ballads, and swing. In the full-length production, Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues includes clowns, theater, vocals, and a historical slideshow back drop. There are umpire and manager fights, shadow ballin’, vocals, and oratory. Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues premiered in 2017 and was commissioned by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. Tonight’s presentation will feature the instrumental excerpts from the full-length production. —Marcus Shelby
PROGRAM NOTES Holman: No Joy in Mudville No Joy in Mudville, featured on Bill Holman’s 1995 Grammy Award-nominated album A View from the Side, takes its inspiration from Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s famous 1888 poem “Casey at the Bat,” transforming the drama of a baseball game into a thrilling piece of music. Holman captures the excitement, anticipation, swagger, and eventual heartbreak of the Mudville 9 through vivid orchestration, driving rhythms, and playful musical gestures. While Mudville was never a real place, two cities are believed to have inspired the setting of the poem: Holliston, Massachusetts, and Stockton, California. —Joe Mazzaferro
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Marcus Anthony Shelby is a composer, bassist, bandleader, and educator who currently lives in San Francisco, California. His work focuses on the history, present, and future of African American lives social movements and music education. In 1990, Shelby received the Charles Mingus Scholarship to attend Cal Arts and study composition with James Newton and bass with Charlie Haden. Currently, he is artistic director of Healdsburg Jazz, an artist-in-residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and a past resident artist with the San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Shelby has composed several oratorios and suites including Harriet Tubman, Beyond the Blues: A Prison Oratorio, Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues, Green and Blues, and a children’s opera Harriet’s Spirit produced by Opera Parallel (2018). Shelby also composed the score and performed in Anna Deavere Smith’s OffBroadway play and HBO feature film Notes from the Field (2019). He is also the voice of Ray Gardener in the 2020 Oscar-Winning Disney Pixar film SOUL. As a recording artist and arranger, Shelby has worked over the past 23 years with a range of artists and productions including Angela Y. Davis’s Blues Legacies and Black Feminism (2019), Joanna Haigood’s Dying While Black and Brown (2014), Margo Hall’s Bebop Baby (2013) and Sonny’s Blues (2008), the Oakland Ballet Company’s production of Ella with The San Francisco Girl Choir (2013), and The Oakland Youth Chorus (2014). Shelby has served on the San Francisco Arts Commission since 2013 and has worked with the Equal Justice Society for over 20 years. The Marcus Shelby Orchestra has released albums: The Lights Suite, Port Chicago, Harriet Tubman, Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Transitions.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Joe Mazzaferro is interim director of jazz studies and associate professor of practice in jazz at University of the Pacific. As a trumpeter, educator, and composer, Mazzaferro is active in the Northern California jazz scene and in demand as a guest artist and clinician across the United States. Mazzaferro’s debut release In Terms of . . . (2017)— which features saxophonist Jeff Clayton along with special guests, drummer Carl Allen and pianist Donald Brown—received high praise from critics and was described as “vintage hard bop with maturity” (George Harris, Jazz Weekly). Mazzaferro has gained critical acclaim as a composer and arranger and has arranged works for pianist Edward Simon, drummer Carl Allen, trumpeter Terell Stafford, and vocalist Jazzmeia Horn. In 2019 he contributed arrangements to Smoke Session Record’s release Bird at 100, commemorating the centennial of Charlie Parker’s birth, which featured alto saxophonists Vincent Herring, Bobby Watson, and Gary Bartz. Mazzaferro’s July 2020 big-band release Talk About It! Live @ The CLARA features exclusively his arrangements and compositions. Mazzaferro is a graduate of University of the Pacific (Bachelor of Music in music education) and the University of Tennessee (Master of Music in jazz and studio music).
ENSEMBLE Pacific Jazz Ensemble "Big Band" The Pacific Jazz Ensemble is an award-winning big band in the tradition of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. The ensemble performs classic big band literature and embraces the music of contemporary composers and arrangers. They have an impressive list of credentials having been invited to perform at jazz festivals around the West Coast. Saxophones Alejandro Martinez, alto Ray Cruz, alto Santo Avalos, tenor Syd Zak, tenor Ethan Karatov, baritone Trumpets Julian Rayray Amalia Silva Alejandro Villalobos Jack Young
Trombones Bronson Burfield James Garbe Kiyoshi Sato Santiago Villalobos Rhythm Section David Nnamdi-Ukpabi, piano Amaris Martinez Medina, bass Cole Long and Victor Cyrus Franklin III, drum set
Faculty Coaches Joseph Mazzaferro, interim director, trumpet Alex Reyes, saxophone Sean Britt, guitar Jamie Dubberly, brass Andrew Mell, bass Aaron Garner, piano Brian Kendrick, percussion Jonathan Latta, ensembles program director Inga Piterbarka, ensemble librarian
SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS AND PROGRAMS Every gift to the Conservatory from an alum, parent, or friend makes an impact on our students. Our students rely on your generosity to enable them to experience a superior education. To make a gift today, please contact the Assistant Dean for Development at 209.932.2978 or scan this QR code. You may also send a check payable to University of the Pacific: Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific Attn: Assistant Dean for Development 3601 Pacific Avenue Stockton, CA 95211
CONSERVATORY STAGE AND PRODUCTION CREW Flavio Araujo, technical and stage director Sylwia Lipiec-Qualls, concert program production Andrew Mell, audio/visual recordings Matt Siek, director of operations
To view our upcoming events, scan the QR code or visit Pacific.edu/MusicEvents
Pacific.edu/Conservatory