The Cal Poly Humboldt Department of Dance, Music and Theatre presents “Wind Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra”. Join us Saturday, March 7th 7:30pm at the Fulkerson Recital Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt. Tickets are $15 General, $5 for Children and Free for Cal Poly Humboldt students with ID. To purchase tickets, visit tickets.humboldt.edu/dance-music-and-theatre.

Director Dan Aldag speaks of the evening’s program, “As we did last semester, the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra will each play something by the same writer. This time, both groups are performing music written by the legendary jazz arranger Gil Evans. The Jazz Orchestra is performing Evans' arrangement of Miles Davis's bebop classic Donna Lee. While the Wind Ensemble will perform Moon Dreams. Like Moon Dreams, Evans wrote his arrangement of Donna Lee in 1947 for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. When Evans asked Davis for permission to arrange Donna Lee, it was the beginning of a relationship that would last for over 40 years and result in such classic albums as Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess, and Sketches of Spain. All of those albums were arranged by Evans and featured Davis as soloist. As was typical of the Thornhill band, Evans' arrangement of Donna Lee utilized such unconventional (for jazz) instruments as French horn and tuba.”

The Wind ensemble will perform a Gil Evans arrangement of Chummy MacGregor’s Moon Dreams. This version was originally set in 1947 by Gil Evans as part of a medley for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra; the titles of the medley were Easy Living, Everything Happens to Me, and Moon Dreams. Gil later modified this arrangement for the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool session. 

Other music being played by the Jazz Orchestra includes:

Rockabye River, composed by Duke Ellington in 1946. Features True Laboissonniere on alto sax and Hayden Hickcox on trumpet.

Stillness Within, composed by Ryan Keberle. We are playing a new arrangement for big band by Keberle that we will premiere with Keberle's group Reverso the week prior to this concert. Features solos by True Laboissonniere on soprano sax and Mathias Severn on tenor sax.

Magic Number, composed by Ben Allison for his small group Think Free as the lead track for their album Layers of the City. Arranged for big band by the composer, and featuring solos by Matt Bellistri, trumpet and Mathias Severn, tenor sax.

Down for the Count, composed by Frank Foster for the Count Basie Orchestra's 1954 album Basie. Features solos by Silas Bohen, piano; Hayden Hickcox, trumpet; and Raymond Endert, trombone.

The Wind Ensemble will also perform:

Fanfare and Allegro was the first composition to win the Ostwald Award for original band literature in 1956. The Fanfare begins with a dynamic brass and percussion statement. The Allegro section begins with dramatic statements by the brass before proceeding into a fugue-like section. A rhythmically complex interplay between the voices of the ensemble drives the movement forward to its conclusion.

Ride was written as a gesture of appreciation for all of the kind things Jack Stamp has done for the composer. In April of 2002, Hazo was part of a composer forum hosted by Stamp. Hazo writes: Following the first day of the forum, Jack invited all of the composers to his house, where his wife Lori had prepared an incredible gourmet dinner. Since I didn't know how to get to Jack's house from the university, he told me to follow him. So he and his passenger, Mark Camphouse, began the fifteen-minute drive with me behind them. The combination of such an invigorating day as well as my trying to follow Jack at the top speed a country road can be driven, is what wrote this piece in my head in the time it took to get from the campus to the Stamp residence. Ride was written and titled for that exact moment in my life when Jack Stamp's generosity and lead foot were equal in their inspiration as the beautiful Indiana, Pennsylvania, countryside blurring past my car window.

Circus Days is one of 13 gallops or marches that Karl King wrote, intended to be played at blazing speeds. As in the case of many circus-type marches, the intent is to provide energy and excitement to the performance, and bring a sense of joy and happiness to the listeners.

The Armenian Dances, Part I is part of a suite suite for concert band based on authentic Armenian folk songs from the collected works of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935), the founder of Armenian classical music. Part I of the Armenian Dances is built upon five Armenian folk songs which were first notated, purified, researched and later arranged by Gomidas for solo voice with piano accompaniment, or unaccompanied chorus. In order of their appearance in the score, they are : Tzirani Tzar (The Apricot Tree); Gakavi Yerk (Partridge's Song); Hoy, Nazan Eem (Hoy, My Nazan); Alagyaz and Gna, Gna (Go, Go).

When: Saturday, March 7th 2026

Where: Fulkerson Recital Hall, Cal Poly Humboldt

Price: $15 General, $5 Children and FREE for Cal Poly Humboldt Students w/ID

Contact: Cal Poly Humboldt School of Dance, Music, and Theatre, 707-826-3566, mus@humboldt.edu

A limited number of tickets will be available for purchase at the door, one hour prior to the performance.