Ouachita Baptist University to present jazz band in concert
ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will present its Ouachita Jazz Band in concert at 7:30 p.m. March 15 in Jones Performing Arts Center on Ouachita’s campus. The concert is free and open to the public.
“I think the audience will enjoy the concert,” said Craig Hamilton, Ouachita’s Lena Goodwin Trimble professor of music and director of bands. “We are playing a wide variety of jazz styles from New Orleans Dixieland to Latin to Swing and more.”
The concert will include “Check Your Swing” by Doug Beach, “Mueva Los Huesos (Shake Your Bones)” by Gordon Goodwin and “Fancy Pants” by Sammy Nestico. The band will also play “Loop 360” by Rick Lawn, “In Summer” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and arranged by Rick Stitzel and “Work Song” by Nat Adderley and arranged by Erik Morales. The concert will conclude with “The Mudbug Strut” by Paul Baker, “Solar” by Miles Davis and arranged by Rick Stitzel and “Dat Dere” by Bobby Timmons and arranged by Mark Taylor.
Esther Atkinson, a senior musical theater major from Rogers, will be the vocal soloist for the concert. She will sing “Night and Day” by Cole Porter, “Isn’t it Romantic” by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers and arranged by Dave Wolpe and “A Wonderful Day Like Today” by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley and arranged by Lennie Niehaus.
“It’s been a dream to sing with a band behind me, never mind singing jazz with some of Ouachita’s best instrumentalists,” Atkinson noted.
“Expect to walk away with a few of the tunes stuck in your head,” saxophonist Sierra Westberg said. “My favorite piece is ‘Mueva Los Huesos’ because it’s challenging yet rewarding to play. It’s also super fun.”
The concert also will be livestreamed at http:// www.obu.edu/band. Email Hamilton at hamiltonc@obu.edu or call 870-245-5137 for more information.