UBC University Singers | Tune In: How Music Transforms Lives One Note at a Time | The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra
Showcase Concert Schedule →
UBC University Singers
Thursday, April 12, 2018
7 PM, 8:15 PM and 9:30 PM
Eric Harvie Theatre
University Singers is the premier choral ensemble of the UBC School of Music. This 40-voice select ensemble performs the most advanced and exciting music written for chamber choir spanning the Renaissance to the modern day. The University Singers also perform major works with orchestra, including Britten’s War Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Handel’s Messiah, and Brahms’ Requiem.
The choir has won several awards, including the CBC National Choral Competition and the BBC International Choral Competition, and has toured through Europe and North America. The University Singers toured Spain in 2013 and Ireland in 2017, and recently returned from their debut performance in Carnegie Hall in New York.
Opening Student Session:
TUNE IN: How Music Transforms Lives One Note at a Time
Friday, April 13, 2018
1 PM
Eric Harvie Theatre
Jennifer Buchanan
A leading expert on boosting mood, increasing productivity, and decreasing stress
In our age of unyielding distractions and persistent disruptions, often to the detriment of our health, there is a simple yet incredibly powerful tool that we have not fully leveraged – music.
As one of Canada’s leading trailblazers and experts in music therapy, Jennifer Buchanan bridges the gap between the academic research and the public in a humorous, warm and insightful way. She believes that when we experience the right music, in the right way, transformation can happen – improved productivity, a boost in mood, enhanced performance, reduction in stress and stronger team engagement.
Like music, Jennifer’s TUNE IN message is universal – it reaches people worldwide regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or location. No matter what kind of organization—a private practice, a small company or a large corporation—managers and employees at all levels will learn to Tune In to a better organization by becoming more collaborative, creative and productive. This “keynote” experience is sure to open or close your meeting on a high note.
DO-GOODERS: Building a Sustainable Business that Does Good
This inspirational and trailblazing story reveals how Jennifer built a successful social purpose business that makes money AND makes significant community impact, despite being told it was impossible.
Based on over 25 years of owning and operating an award-winning company, Jennifer presents her most moving stories to convey the following key strategies to help you build greater impact and meaning into your business, regardless of your company’s age or size:
- Share the dream and lead with legacy in mind
- Foster a spirit of equity and build on your team’s strengths
- Make incremental steps towards your ‘blisspoint’
- Invest in self-care for yourself and your team
Jennifer imparts her frontline experience and infectious energy, speaking directly to every member in the audience. She brings her real-world experience of starting her company with just one client and scaling it to maximize community impact.
Her first accountant said the market would never buy in … over a quarter of a century later (and with a new accountant), Jennifer has built a company that proves good work can still make a difference.
The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra
Friday, April 13, 2018 | 7:30 PM and 9 PM
Saturday, April 14, 2018 | 7:30 PM and 9 PM
Eric Harvie Theatre
We are very pleased to announce that the Count Basie Orchestra*, under the direction of Scotty Barnhart, will be returning to the Festival. They will be performing concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings (April 13th and 14th), as well as doing a workshop and clinics during the Festival. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see the legendary Count Basie Orchestra!
*The Count Basie Orchestra mark appears under license from the William J. Basie Trust
Scotty Barnhart | Director
Scotty Barnhart is an internationally acclaimed Jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, author, and Director of The Count Basie Orchestra. Prior to his being selected Director of the Basie orchestra in 2013, he was its featured trumpet soloist for 20 years, and is also a two-time Grammy Award winner with the orchestra. He appears on three critically acclaimed recordings with pianist Marcus Roberts and over 15 others with artists as diverse as Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Ray Charles, and Tito Puente.
Scotty is Professor of Jazz Trumpet/Jazz Studies at Florida State University where two of his former students won First Place in the National Jazz Trumpet Competition. Acknowledged as an authority on the history of Jazz trumpet, he gives lecture-demonstrations on the history of jazz trumpet at schools and universities all over the United States as well as in South America, Japan, China, Europe, and South Africa. Hal Leonard published his groundbreaking book The World of Jazz Trumpet – a Comprehensive History and Practical Philosophy worldwide in 2005 to rave reviews.
Scotty was trumpeter for the Marcus Roberts Quintet in the late ’80s and early ’90s and has also performed or recorded with Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Take 6, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Nat Adderley, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, Barbara Streisand, Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Barry Manilow, and Johnny Mathis. Additionally, Scotty has performed at every major concert hall and jazz festival in the world at least once, been featured in the Asian Wall Street Journal, performed at the Academy Awards, and is in demand as a soloist and lecturer on jazz history. Scotty also served as conductor for 1he 2010 Georgia All-State Jazz Orchestra and the 2011 Florida All-State Jazz Orchestra.
In 2009, Unity Music released his long anticipated debut CD, Say It Plain, to critical acclaim. Guests include Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry, Ellis Marsalis, Marcus Roberts and others. It reached #3 on the jazz charts and his sextet performed to rave reviews at the 2009 Monterey Jazz Festival.
Scotty is a graduate of Florida A&M University with a degree in Music Education and is profiled in the book Trumpet Kings, which places him with the most important jazz trumpeters in history, from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis and others. He resides in Los Angeles, California, and Tallahassee, Florida.
scottybarnhart.com
Carmen Bradford
Carmen Bradford was hired by William Count Basie himself, and was the featured vocalist in the legendary Count Basie Orchestra for nine years. She has since performed and/or recorded with; Wnyton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, George Benson, Benny Carter, Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Frank Sinatra, the National Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Dori Caymmi, Nancy Wilson, James Brown, Doc Severinsen, Lena Horne, Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Tony Bennett, and many, many, more.
On occasion, Carmen has loaned her talented voice to stage productions and the music of Hollywood films. Bradford’s body of work reflects a vast depth of musical genres, along with experience and technical brilliance. She is also recognized for the overwhelming passion she brings to the lyric. Carmen has truly contributed to the perpetuation and preservation of this great American art form called jazz, and continues to do so.
Artist Information
Count Basie Orchestra History
In the history of Jazz music, there is only one bandleader that has the distinction of having his orchestra still performing sold-out concerts all over the world, with members personally chosen by him, for over 30 years after his passing. Pianist and bandleader William James “Count” Basie was and still is an American institution that personifies the grandeur and excellence of jazz. The Count Basie Orchestra, today directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for kings, queens, and other world royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world. The latest honour is the critically acclaimed release in 2015 of A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas!, the very first holiday album in the 80-year history of the orchestra. Released on Concord Music, it went to #1 on the jazz charts and sold out on Amazon. Special guests include vocalists Johnny Mathis, Ledisi, our own Carmen Bradford and pianist Ellis Marsalis.
Some of the greatest soloists, composers, arrangers, and vocalists in jazz history such as Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Frank Foster, Thad Jones, Sonny Payne, Freddie Green, Snooky Young, Frank Wess, and Joe Williams, became international stars once they began working with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. This great 18-member orchestra is still continuing the excellent history started by Basie of stomping and shouting the blues, as well as refining those musical particulars that allow for the deepest and most moving of swing.
William “Count” Basie was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1904. He began his early playing days by working as a silent movie pianist and organist and by eventually working with the Theater Owners Booking Agency (TOBA) circuit. It is also sometimes referred to as the “chitlin’ circuit” that catered primarily to the African-American communities in the south, east, and midwest. In 1927, Basie, then touring with Gonzelle White and the Big Jazz Jamboree, found himself stranded in Kansas City, Missouri. It was here that he would begin to explore his deep love of the blues, and meet his future bandmates including bassist Walter Page.
In the 1920s and ’30s, Kansas City was headquarters for the territory bands that played the mid- and southwest. It was also ground zero for the heady mixture of blues, 4/4 swing rhythms and hot instrumentalists that were to become the standardbearers and precursors for the Swing Era and the underlying rhythm of Modern Jazz. Walter Page’s Blue Devils and Benny Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra caught Basie’s ear and soon he was playing with both and serving as second pianist and arranger for Mr. Moten. In 1935, Bennie Moten died and it was left to Basie to take some of the musicians from that orchestra and form his own, The Count Basie Orchestra, which is still alive and well today some 78 years later. His orchestra epitomized Kansas City Swing and along with the bands of Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, Basie’s orchestra would define the big band era.
While the media of the period crowned Benny Goodman the “King of Swing”, the real King of Swing was undoubtedly Count Basie. As the great Basie trumpeter Sweets Edison once said, “we used to tear all of the other bands up when it came to swing.” The basic fundamentals of Basie’s orchestra were and still are foot-stomping 4/4 swing, an unparalleled use of dynamic contrasts, shouting the blues at any tempo, and just making one want to dance. The Basie Orchestra evolved into one of the most venerable and viable enterprises in American music with the highest levels of continued productivity rivaling any musical organization in history.
The Count Basie Orchestra can be viewed between 1935 and 1955 as the Old Testament and New Testament bands. The Old Testament band’s style was a combination of spontaneously developed riff-driven, or “head” arrangements, full of the blues and relaxed, but intense swing that showcased a some of the greatest names in jazz history in Lester Young, Hershel Evans, Harry Edison, Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Jo Jones, Freddie Green and Jimmy Rushing among others.
The “New Testament” Count Basie Orchestra was formed circa 1952 after Basie’s brief hiatus from the full orchestra as he was working with a small group of six to seven pieces during the industry-imposed recording ban that began in 1948. With the April In Paris recording in 1955, the orchestra began to set standards of musical achievement that have been emulated by every jazz orchestra since that time. The sound of the orchestra was constantly deepening and getting more precise as each series of non-stop tours was completed. One of the things that set Mr. Basie’s orchestra apart from all others, and is one of the secrets to its longevity, is the fact the Basie allowed and actually encouraged his musicians to compose and arrange especially for the orchestra and its distinctive soloists such as Snooky Young, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, and Frank Wess on flute, who recorded the very first jazz flute solo in history.
Eddie Durham, Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins, Quincy Jones, Neal Hefti, Sammy Nestico, and Frank Foster, to name a few of the more prominent Basie arrangers, have added volumes to the Basie library. Through them, the Basie repertoire continued to broaden harmonically and rhythmically, making it more than hospitable to the talents of the successive generations of musicians. The orchestra also began to become the first choice for the top jazz vocalists of the day including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, and of course, Basie’s “Number One Son”, the great Joe Williams.
As Basie allowed for a certain measure of change and for a variety of voices to emerge on the platform he created, his orchestra’s repertoire always remained accessible, endlessly interesting, and ultimately perfect for dancing. This can be even witnessed in the major motion picture of 1960, Cinderfella, starring Jerry Lewis. For the biggest scene in the movie, which required the perfect orchestra to dance to at the ball, Lewis chose none other than The Count Basie Orchestra. This movie was seen by millions and placed the orchestra at the top of everyone’s list for not only full concerts, but also presidential inaugural balls, and for private parties of the world’s elite from New York to Bangkok, Thailand, to St. Tropez in the South of France.
During the 1960s and throughout the 1970s and into the ’80s, the orchestra’s sound, swing feel, general articulation and style began to become more laid back and even more relaxed. As 30-year veteran trumpeter Sonny Cohn once stated, “this is a laid … back … orchestra …. a … laid … back … orchestra.” With very few personnel changes, the orchestra members were able to blend into one sound and one way of phrasing that is now known as the “Basie way.” Jazz orchestras all over the world began to emulate this way of playing. It’s unmistakable with its deceptive suspension of time and rhythm, but it’s one that is infectious and never loses that all-important dance element. In simple terms, the Count Basie Orchestra continued to set a precedent in 4/4 swing at any tempo that is still unsurpassed today. Swing is that intangible that makes you pat your foot.
Since Basie’s passing in 1984, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes, Dennis Mackrel, and now Scotty Barnhart, have led the Count Basie Orchestra and maintained it as one of the elite performing organizations in jazz. Its next recording will celebrate the first 80 years of the orchestra and will be released on Concord Music in early 2018. Executive produced by Scotty Barnhart and Sam Beler, it features legendary artists Stevie Wonder, Take 6, Joey DeFrancesco, Kurt Elling, and others.
Current members include musicians hired by Basie himself: frequent guest vocalist Carmen Bradford (joined in 1983); Clarence Banks (joined in 1984); as well as Mike Williams (1987, formerly w/Glenn Miller, NTSU 1 O’Clock); Doug Miller (1989, formerly w/Lionel Hampton); and members who have joined in the last 15-20 years: trombonists David Keim (formerly w/Stan Kenton), Alvin Walker and Mark Williams; guitarist Will Matthews; baritone saxophonist Jay Branford; trumpeters Endre Rice, Kris Johnson, and Marques Carroll; saxophonists Marshall McDonald (formerly w/Lionel Hampton, Paquito D’Rivera’s United Nations Jazz Orchestra), Doug Lawrence (formerly w/Benny Goodman, Buck Clayton), and Cleave Guyton (formerly w/Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington Orchestra); alternating pianists Bobby Floyd and Reginald Thomas; bassist Trevor Ware; and the youngest member at 26 years old, Robert Boone on drums.