A jazz and big band composer, arranger and recording artist, Berg founded the Collin Jazz Fest and the Texas All-Star Jazz Camp. The season draws to a close May 8 with an appearance by Kris Berg, bassist and leader of the Dallas-based Metroplexity Big Band. Air Force Band's Airmen of Note, Patterson also leads the underground rock group Master Plan. Lead trombonist of the Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra and the U.S. Oklahoma native Benjamin Patterson will headline the OKC Jazz Orchestra's March 13 concert. His local concert is being presented in conjunction with Oklahoma City University's Distinguished Artist Series. Mintzer has also toured with his own quartet and holds an endowed chair of jazz studies at the University of Southern California. 16 with an appearance by saxophonist Bob Mintzer, a 20-year veteran with the Grammy Award-winning Yellowjackets. He's also performed with Herbie Hancock and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. The season opens Monday with a concert featuring Paul Stephens, former lead trumpet with the U.S.

The OKC Jazz Orchestra's 2016-17 season promises to fulfill such ideas not only with the stylish arrangements it programs, but also with the four distinguished jazz artists who will join the group this year. I tend to gravitate toward literature that holds the attention of the audience and the musicians.” “Today, there's more variety in a 5- to 9-minute chart than ever before. “Jazz has always been and will continue to be influenced by performers at the highest level,” Gorrell said. Not surprisingly, he's always on the lookout for great jazz selections. It's entertaining and fun to listen to, but there's also a lot of serious jazz literature out there.”Īs director of UCO's top jazz ensemble, Gorrell keeps abreast of musical trends taking place in the world of jazz, something he can also pass along to his colleagues in the OKC Jazz Orchestra. “My big push with this group is to present music in a concert format that features really good literature. “It's brought back a resurgence of concert jazz orchestras.

“Big band music in a concert setting went out of favor for a while, but then you look at what Wynton Marsalis has done with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra,” Gorrell said. In addition to serving as an instructor of saxophone, Gorrell is head of the Jazz Studies Division at the University of Central Oklahoma.

This group offers good musicians a chance to get together and collaborate on something meaningful.”įollowing in the footsteps of Kent Kidwell and John Allen, Brian Gorrell was recently named director of the jazz orchestra. “We all performed in groups when we were in school, but once you're out, you don't often have those opportunities. “To play in a big band of this caliber is a real appeal to players,” Anderson said.

Oklahoma city jazz orchestra