Celebrating 100 Years of Jazz Criterions Jazz Ensemble Statesmen Jazz Ensemble Criterions Alumni Stefon Harris Friday-Sunday, November 6-8, 2026 Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Philips Memorial Building
WELCOME ADDRESS Welcome to our celebration of a century of jazz at West Chester University. This weekend is both a culmination of 100 years and the kick-off event for a new era that begins with our most robust year of public offerings to date. In my seventh year as director of the Criterions, I am astounded by the progress and intensity of this young ensemble. The band has always played at a high level, which many of the alumni and fans in attendance – with over sixty years of collective memory! – will tell you, but I took a risk to amplify the student experience and raise it to a professional level of expectation . The result has been powerful for the students and our community. My experience as a musician has shown me that we learn best in the energetic and fiery center that is the bandstand. Jazz music in America is a communal music, largely defined by its tradition of learning in the process of playing with masters of the craft. These past six seasons, our students have worked with no fewer than seven guest artists each year including: NEA Jazz Master David Liebman, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, Pulitzer Prize finalist Billy Childs, saxophonist Steve Wilson, 1963 WCU Alum Bob Curnow, pianist Orrin Evans, master drummer Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, and composer and saxophonist Bob Mintzer among many more! The jazz studies program has expanded with a new lecture series, a Pops Orchestra with the WCUSO , and partnerships with WRTI/WHYY, MontCo Jazz Festival, Windish Entertainment and Turks Head Wines. Though the Jazz Studies Program is not one hundred years old, it is thriving as a direct result of the level of the Criterions Jazz Ensemble and the commitment of the generations of students who led the band and have participated in it. Beyond this weekend’s celebration, I have elevated our seasonal offerings to showcase the talent of our students and the promise of the future. This season will feature fifteen guest artists on campus including: Helen Sung, Peter Evans, Tyshawn Sorey, Orrin Evans, Danielle Ang rand, Tim Warfield, and a Sonny Rollins tribute with the Statesmen Jazz Ensemble featuring four of Philadelphia’s great tenor saxophonists. We gather this weekend to celebrate the rich history of this ensemble. Student-led since the beginning, our alumni have continually played at a high -level and members of the ensemble have gone into the world and enriched myriad musical spaces. A short list of the prestigious ensembles and artistic partnerships includes: The Stan Kenton Orchestra, The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen, Frank Zappa, The Rolling Stones, Barbara Streis and, The Buddy Rich Big Band, The US Air Force Airmen of Note, The Benny Goodman Orchestra, The United States Navy Concert Band, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, Woody Herman ’s Big Band , and countless Broadway productions and tours. Beyond this our alumni have impacted the musical world as composers, scorers for soundstages in Hollywood, musical directors of national and international acts, creators of innovative companies in various sectors of the music industry, founders of global publishing companies, and become presidents of national and international musical organizations. One layer of this tradition that is closest to my heart are the group of alumni who were not music -majors during their time in the band, or were music majors and, after graduation, went into other important industries in our society. A brief list of these includes lawyers, accountants, marketing and client service executives, educators , philanthropists , and psychologists. When jazz musicians come together on the stage the metaphor of a democracy is often intoned, and these lists provide a window into the special space of the bandstand . As Director of Jazz Studies, I have had the unique experience of receiving enormous amounts of archival materials about the band that stretches all the way back to the beginning. On our website there is a newly updated timeline of that history with photos and video. In this program t here is a section specifically dedicated to the history of this ensemble through that lens. It is a great honor to usher the Criterions into their second century, and to expand the impact of our jazz studies program in our community and beyond. I want to thank all of you for your continued support. We have seen an unprecedented rise in attendance these past few years and it adds to the magic of the musical and student experience. For those of you who are here for the first time, welcome to the club.
Jonathan Ragonese
Welcome Concert Friday – November 6th, 2026 St. Thomas................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...Sonny Rollins (Arr. Bill Holman)
You Don’t Know What Love Is ................................ ................................ ............................ Gene DePaul (Arr. Mike Tomaro)
The Eternal Triangle ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... Sonny Stitt (Arr. John Clayton)
Intermission Riff ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................... Ray Wetzel
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore ................................ ................................ .......................... Duke Ellington & Bob Russell
Reverie................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. Claude Debussy (Arr. Melba Liston)
Royal Garden Blues ................................ ................................ ............... Clarence & Spencer Williams (Arr. Billy Strayhorn)
The Gypsy ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... William Gordon Reid (Arr. Melba Liston)
I’m Just a Lucky So and So ................................ ................................ .....Duke Ellington & Mac David (Arr. John Clayton)
Basie’s Buddy ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................... Sammy Nestico
Isfahan ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn
Empty Ballroom Blues ................................ ................................ ................................ .......Duke Ellington (Arr. Oliver Nelson)
Please silence all cell phones and electronic devices , or at the very least, turn them up and participate .
HISTORY In the 1926 -27 season, a new dance band was formed on West Chester's campus: the Johnnie Smith Orchestra. This band changed names twice in the next four years. The 'Purple and Gold Dance Band' played for six seasons, and in 1932 band member Larry Gintner felt that the sound of the band was so good it should be labeled “The Criterion”. This band was formed just five years after the West ChesterNormal School formed its first music department. The need for the band arose when the school approving co -ed, social dancing. For their first four decades The Criterions played for a variety of social affairs on campus and were compensated by the school playing at formal dances in Philips Memorial Ballroom, and mixers in Ehringer and Hollinger gymnasiums after Friday night football games. In the beginning their compensation took the form of room and board, and then later as a stipend deducted from tuition – by 1965 this was $26/month. During the depression the band was already on the road many times throughout the school year, working as professionals playing different events around the east coast . This gave members the opportunities to make professional income on top of their stipend, while staying in school. These events included block -parties, carnivals, church dances, and hotel engagements. Bandmembers had the opportunity to make more earnings than most jobs outside of music during those difficult years. The dances of those early years were major events. The band would normally play for an audience of 1000 dancers. One of their original arrangers, Donald Luckenbill, said ‘Hum it. The Criterions played it.’ At every dance they played a theme arrangement of ‘I’ll Get By’ which unfortunately has not survived. During the 1930s, John Hollinger was the business manager of the college. The band began playing many engagements at his four hotels in New Jersey. This led to great interest in the band at the time including a live radio broadcast from Atlantic City. The Criterions now had matching attire , stand fronts for the band , and a new -found sense of motivation. The Criterions were never far behind the most current musical trends of those heady days of the 19 30s and 1940s. The band expanded instrumentation in lock -step with the most famous bands of the time, who happened to be defining new musical traditions that have since become beacons of innovation: dropping a sousaphone and adding a bassist, giving the percussionist more roles at the ‘drum set’, removing orchestral instruments from the original instrumentation, adding saxophones, adding brass, accumulating mutes et cetera. During the 1940s and 1950s the band kept expanding its musical offerings and , in an attempt to stay current with the popular music of the day , continually enlisted its students to transcribe arrangements from the recordings or write new arrangements for the band due to the lack of easily accessible publishing during that period. This culminated with the arrival of Bob Curnow in the band. In Bob’ s own words, “The 3 ½ years with the Criterions was an amazing time for me. I wrote a lot of original music for the band, some good, some not so good. I also transcribed a lot of music from records for us to play. It was during this time that the band was gradually changing from a dance band to a jazz ensemble. However, we continued to perform at all 29 on-campus dances/gigs on a contract with the student government and the college. We earned $90 a semester. What an education that was! Without the band serving as my ‘lab band,’ I know I never could have been successful as a composer/arranger.” The Criterions began winning newly founded awards at collegiate jazz festivals, most notably the Villanova Jazz Festival. Bob went on to become of one of the world’s foremost composers and arrangers for big band music and cemented the band’s direction
immensely . In 2022, Bob donated the entire Sierra Music Publications catalog and his personal papers to the Wells School of Music , instituting the Bob & Darlene Curnow Jazz Library. During Bob’s time as leader of the Criterions , his friend Lee Southall (future director of the band) was also in the trombone section. Lee’s work under Bob had a profound impact on him. A long list of the student leaders has been difficult to piece together and too long to include in this brief overview. However, it must be stated, that The Criterions still exist today due to a beautiful , continued handoff of dedication and hard work from what amounts to at least fifty student leaders until the first faculty advisor in 1969, Dr. James Sullivan . In the 1960s and 1970s the band became host to some of the great touring bands of the day, and many of its members went on to play in t hose bands. It was during this period that the band requested to be released from it s contracted obligation with the university to play dances every other week. The music was changing, and briefly, the band also attempted a name change. In the early 1980s, the ensemble was offered for the first time as a class and Dr. H. Lee Southall became the first faculty director of the band. Lee ran the band for twenty years, instituting the yearly jazz festival in the spring, and the first alumni reunion for the band i n 1986. During his time, he was beloved for his post-season tours and recording with the band, venturing around the tri -state area and playing performances at local venues. The alumni reunion that he started, now in its 40th year, has become a hallmark annual celebration during the week of the WCU Summer Jazz Camp. Now , under the direction of alumni Dave DiValentino, it is a moment for alumni to come back and celebrate the music and their time together while sharing it with new generations of young musician campers. The 21 st century brought several new leaders of the band including alumni Matt Neiss of The U.S. Army Blues, and Dr. Marc Jacoby who led the band for a decade. During Dr. Jacoby’s tenure the band began expanding their interaction with guest artists and their relationship with local venues in the borough of West Chester, most notably Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center. Jonathan Ragonese became faculty director in 2020 and has worked to expand offerings to the public, enrich student experience, advance invitations and access to more international guest artists, and impress upon the current band members the reality that the band is theirs and always has been.
West Chester University proudly celebrates 100 Years of Jazz — a legacy of innovation, creativity, and excellence. For a century, jazz at WCU has shaped generations of musicians, inspired audiences, and enriched our campus and community. To commemorate this milestone, we have launched a fundraising campaign to raise $500,000 for the Friends of Jazz Endowment. Your support helps sustain this vibrant tradition and provides students with transformative opportunities to learn, perform, and carry jazz into its next century at WCU!
ARTIST PROFILE Stefon Harris is a four -time Grammy -nominated jazz vibraphonist, educator, app developer, and thought leader. He has been heralded as “one of the most important artists in jazz” (Los Angeles Times) and is a recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award and the M artin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center. He has been named Best Mallet Player eight times by the Jazz Journalist Association and Best Vibes Player in DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll. Harris currently tours with his Grammy -nominated band, Blackout, and ha s released eleven albums as a leader. He has also recorded and performed with The Classical Jazz Quartet, Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash, the SFJAZZ Collective, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Short er, Bobby Hutcherson, Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Max Roach, Chaka Khan, Kurt Elling, Buster Williams, Dianne Reeves, Common, and Pablo Zeigler. Harris’ band, Stefon Harris & Blackout, is a pioneering force in contemporary jazz. With influential albums like Sonic Creed (named Jazz Album of the Year by WBGO – the world's #1 jazz station) and Urbanus (Grammy -nominated), Stefon Harris & Blackout showc ase a dynamic interplay of intricate arrangements and soulful improvisation, solidifying their status as trailblazers in the modern jazz landscape. Their performances promise an electrifying fusion of tradition and innovation, leaving an indelible mark on audiences and further shaping the evolving narrative of jazz expression. They recently released Sonic Creed II: Life Signs (Motema Music), which is the highly anticipated sequel to their critically acclaimed album, Sonic Creed. Along with performing, Harris has taught at universities throughout the world, led curriculum development at the Brubeck Institute, served as a part of the jazz faculty at New York University, and formerly served as the Associate Dean and Director of Jazz Arts at Manhattan School of Music. He is currently Artistic Advisor of Jazz Education at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the Director of the Harmony Lab at Express Newark, and a tenured Associate Professor of Music at Rutgers University – Newark. In 2013, he founded The Melodic Progression Institute (MPI) and created a revolutionary ear training app called Harmony Cloud which is widely used by musicians across multiple genres. As a thought leader, Harris leads transformative presentations on corporate leadership and team empowerment for Fortune 100 companies using jazz as a metaphor. His 2012 TED Talk, “There Are No Mistakes on the Bandstand,” has gained nearly 900,000 views. Through these presentations, Harris is committed to the proliferation of empathy through the arts and empowering others with the necessary tools to articulate their authentic voices through music.
100 Years of Jazz Celebration featuring Stefon Harris Saturday – November 8th, 2026 Paoli Local ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........Dick Haarde
Convergence (world premiere) ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . Bob Mintzer
Li’l Bro’s Blues................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . Bob Curnow
Writer’s Cramp ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................... Bob Curnow
For the Li’l Ones ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................ Bob Curnow
What a Wonderful World ................................ ..................... Thiele & Weiss – Arr. Stefon Harris (Orch. Scott Arcangel)
Cape Verdean Blues ................................ ................................ ...Horace Silver – Arr. Stefon Harris (Orch. Omar Thomas)
Summertime ................................ ................................ ............George Gershwin – Arr. Stefon Harris (Orch. Vern Sielert)
Portraits of the Promised ................................ ................................ ................................ ...Stefon Harris (Orch. Rich DeRosa)
Stan The Man (world premiere) ................................ ................................ ................................ .Orrin Evans (Orch. M. Stasio)
Bourbon St. Jingle Jollies ................................ ...................... Duke Ellington - Arr. Stefon Harris (Orch. Scott Arcangel)
Devil in the Details ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........Stefon Harris (Orch. Omar Thomas)
Legacy Dances ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................... Stefon Harris (Arr. Ragonese )
Please silence all cell phones and electronic devices, or at the very least, turn them up and participate
UPCOMING WELLS SCHOOL OF MUSIC EVENTS For full event details visitwcupa.edu/music or call (610) 436-2739 Thursday, November 1 0, 2026, 7:30 PM Trumpet Ensemble Concert Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski & Robert Skoniczin, directors Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre, PAC
Friday, November 13, 2026 , 7:30 PM *Opera Production: Cabildo Nicholas Provenzale, director Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Philips Memorial Building
Saturday, November 14, 2026 , 3:00 PM *Opera Production: Cabildo Nicholas Provenzale, director Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Philips Memorial Building
Sunday, November 15, 2026 , 3:00 PM Harp Festival Gloria Galante, director Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center
Monday, November 16, 2026 , 7:30 PM Chamber Strings Concert Adriana Linares, director Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building
Tuesday, November 17, 2026 , 11:00 AM and now: a word from our friends: Tim Warfield Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building
Tuesday, November 17, 2026 , 7:30 PM Woodwind Chamber Recital Henry Grabb, director Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building
Thursday, November 19, 2026 , 7:30 PM Vocal Jazz & Latin Jazz Concert Ryan Kelly & Jacob Kelberman, directors Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center
*Ticketsare required for this event. For weekday daytime events, please RSVP tomusicinfo@wcupa.eduto obtain a parking pass via email
Interested in supporting the Wells School of Music? Scan the QR code and choose the ‘Friends of JazzFund' to direct your donation toward enhancing and sustaining our jazz programs, fostering future musical talent, and ensuring the continued success of the Wells School of Music’s jazz initiatives . For further information, please call (610) 436 -2868 or visitwcufoundation.org 🙘 A majority of performances are available to watch via live stream at Vimeo.com/WSOM Mr.Jonathan Lightcap, Director of Recording Services and Digital Media 🙘 Steinway & Sons Piano Technical, Tuning and Concert Preparations by Gerald P. Cousins, RPT If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors. The Wells School of Music | West Chester University of Pennsylvania Dr. Christopher Hanning, Dean