Northland College Winds and Jazz Band present spring concerts

April 12, 2012

The Northland College Winds and Northland College Jazz Band will present their spring concerts on Monday, April 16, and Tuesday, April 17, in the Alvord Theatre at Northland College. The Northland College Jazz Band will perform its cabaret concert "Jazz for Blue Monday," on April 16 and the Northland College Winds will feature its "Something Old, Something New" concert on April 17. The events, part of the Northland College Community Connections series, begin at 7:30 p.m. each evening and are free and open to the public.

The Northland Jazz Band offers campus-goers, as well as community members, a chance to unwind and listen to the serenades of American Jazz in its various styles. Conductor Joel Glickman, music director at Northland College, leads the 21-member stage ensemble comprised of Northland students, alumni and dedicated community musicians.

"Each year's band has a little different sound, a unique personality, different strengths and different struggles," says Glickman. "But the common threads that bind all the bands are a deep and abiding love of jazz, America's own distinctive contribution to the world's music, and the belief that music has the ability to lift, refresh, and heal the spirit."

On Tuesday, the Northland College Winds will explore musical connections to the past and present with its "Something Old, Something New" concert. The program of contemporary wind band compositions and adaptations will feature commentary by the conductor. Glickman will guide the audience through an examination of how composers embrace new ideas and musical vocabulary while incorporating influences from classical compositions. The concert will feature music from the English composer Malcolm Arnold. Arnold originally composed music for British brass band and John Paynter has adapted his music for a modern American mix of band instruments. In addition, the Northland Winds will perform Richard Saucedo's "Confluence," John Philip Sousa's "The Rhine Wines," and a concert march by John Mackey entitled "Xerxes."