SMU jazz groups, Batucada join for performance Friday

Saint Mary’s University jazz ensembles will join forces with the percussion ensemble Batucada Nossa Senhora for an evening of rhythmic jazz and unique ethnic sounds Friday.

The joint concert, at 7:30 p.m. in Page Theatre, combines the talents of the 18-piece Jazz Ensemble, the 12-member Batucada ensemble and the SMU Jazz Combo, featuring five student soloists. John Paulson directs the jazz groups, and Denny McGuire directs Batucada Nossa Senhora (translated as “percussion ensemble of our lady”).
The big band will feature the world premiere of Paulson’s “Drop Off Blues”; the jazz ensemble in the Basie-style ballad “Nice and Easy”; “Carnival Del Sol,” a lively jazz samba by Dean Sorenson; Dizzy Gillespie’s famous “Manteca”; bebop trumpeter Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder”; and “Spring Cleaning” by Maynard Ferguson band alumnus Matt Harris, featuring music faculty member Eric Heukeshoven on piano. Batucada Nossa Senhora will perform styles from the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian traditions, as well as a drum medley from Ghana in West Africa.

Tickets are $10, $5 for students and senior citizens and are available at the SMU Box Office, (507) 457-1715 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays or online at www.pagetheatre.org.

For more information, contact Paulson at (507) 457-1596 or jpaulson@smumn.edu.

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