Performers
- Chopin University Big Band
- Piotr Kostrzewa artistic direction
Programme
George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Sammy Nestico) [3’]
Henry Mancini Moon River (arr. Bill Byers) [3’]
Wayne Shorter Children of the Night (arr. Mark Taylor) [6’]
Glenn Miller Moonlight Serenade (arr. Mark Taylor) [4’]
Pat Metheny Every Summer Night (arr. Bob Curnow) [7’]
Fryderyk Chopin Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 (arr. Wojtek Kostrzewa) [5’]
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Sheherezade, symphonic suite, Op. 35 (arr. Sammy Nestico) [3’]
Antônio Carlos Jobim Quiet Nights (arr. Mark Taylor) [4’]
Dizzy Gillespie A Night in Tunisia (arr. Peter Herbolzheimer) [5’]
Concert description
The Big Band is one of the most attractive ensembles – one now considered classical – and not just in jazz, but in general. No other ensemble can play in a way that makes the audience not only hear the sounds but also get swept away by them and experience them in the most visceral way. For the truest experience of the Big Band and – in a broader sense – jazz music, in any of its genres, it is best to listen to them at night. If it has to be by day, it better be in a dim club where the sun shining outside does not matter.
The lyrics of many jazz standards, often omitted during performances, tell us about things that happen under cover of darkness. There are stories about waiting out front and singing a serenade to a beloved woman (Moonlight Serenade), of lovers meeting under a starlit sky (Quiet Nights), wandering through the city alone (Children of The Night), or about the night dispelling sorrow and bringing comfort (A Night in Tunisia). And sometimes, when there are no words, we are only left with our imagination. Then, it is up to us to imagine what can happen Every Summer Night.
Dominika Micał, “Ruch Muzyczny”