Saint Mary’s Jazz Concert April 15 to feature Sorenson as guest artist
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary’s University will heat things up this spring with a jazz concert 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 15, in Page Theatre. The featured soloist will be Yamaha clinician, composer, arranger and trombonist Dean Sorenson.
Sorenson is the associate professor and director of jazz studies at the University of Minnesota. His most recent publication is “Standard of Excellence First Jazz Performance,” a collection of jazz charts for elementary bands and jazz bands. An outstanding clinician, conductor, and soloist, he is frequently featured at festivals and conventions around the country and abroad. He also maintains a full schedule of concert and recording dates as a Yamaha performing artist. Sorenson has composed and arranged for numerous ensembles including the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Airmen of Note and the United States Air Force Band. For more information, visit www.deansorensonmusic.com.
Sorenson will perform several of his own compositions and arrangements with the SMU Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo I. Both groups are co-directed this semester by Eric Heukeshoven and Dr. John Paulson of the Music Department. The 18-piece SMU Jazz Ensemble will perform Sorenson’s works “Cool City” and “Keep the Stick.” Jazz Combo I will perform “This is for Albert,” composed by Wayne Shorter and arranged for the group by Sorenson.
Other highlights of the concert will include the recognizable ballad “Willow Weep For Me,” featuring the alto sax stylings of senior Tommy Quinn of Cannon Falls; “High and Flightly,” composed by Hank Mobley and arranged by Mark Taylor, featuring both Quinn and trumpeter Tyler Ringeisen, also from Cannon Falls; “Nostalgia in Times Square” and “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” composed by Charles Mingus and arranged by Andrew Homzy and Ronnie Cuber; the popular ’70s jazz hit “Red Clay” by Freddie Hubbard, arranged by Mike Crotty as a cha cha; and some deep fried chicken funk by Kris Berg “Rule the Roost,” cooked up in the style of the funk maestros Tower of Power. Other featured student soloists include Ben Scott of Rochester on tenor sax and Trevor Woggon of Viroqua, Wis., on trombone.
Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults, and are available at www.pagetheatre.org or at the box office, (507) 457-1715, between 10 am and 6 pm Monday through Friday or one hour before the performance.
