Columbus Jazz Orchestra in Colorado
The 21st Bravo! Vail Valley Festival Starts with New Orleans Jazz
Jun 26, 2008
To start off the summer music festival, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra took its audience on a journey back to New Orleans, complete with funeral marches, hymns and saucy good times. The director and lead trumpeter Byron Stripling was a showman with a honey tone on his instrument. He looked like he had been playing bluesy jazz for a lifetime and he has certainly played with the best: Stripling's performing career began with a stint as the lead trumpet in the Count Basie Orchestra.
The programs were printed in advance, and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra took liberties with the set list, shifting and substituting a few times. Yet what is a jazz concert but a celebration of a little improvisation? So instead of beginning with Louis Armstrong's favorite opener "Sleep Time Down South," Byron Stripling called the audience to order with a trumpet version of "The Star Spangled Banner." An arrangement of Paul Barbarin's "Bourbon Street Parade" then warmed the audience up with a little foot-stomping and hand-clapping.
A New Orleans Funeral: From Mourning to Dancing
An arrangement of Primrose's "St. James Infirmary" captured the flavor of the New Orleans funeral: a slow, dirge-like march that ushered in trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, wearing a somber suit and tie. The mournful section was then followed by jubilant celebration because, Stripling explained, the dearly departed have gone off to a better place. Gordon's trombone achieved trills, runs and sounds that could only quite be described as a very large cat purring.
The orchestra played works by two of the greats from New Orleans' rich history: the mournful, Latin-influenced "Petit Fleur" by Sidney Bichet and Jelly Roll Morton's "Black Bottom Stomp." Also, an arrangement of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" showcased pianist Bobby Floyd's impressive technique.
From Night Club to Church
After the intermission, the orchestra broke into "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" and added some electronic timbre with the ewee, an instrument with a saxophone mouthpiece and MIDI controls. By special request, the group performed "(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You." To pay tribute to the religious heritage of New Orleans, the concert finished with a set of hymns and spirituals such as "I'm Going Home," "Down By the Riverside" and "Amazing Grace," accompanied fittingly by a church-like electric organ.
Music in the Mountains
The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre is an outdoor concert hall nestled in the Vail Valley against the backdrop of Vail Mountain and the White River National Forest. Over 8,000 feet in altitude, the concert hall is perhaps one of the most challenging venues for wind players, brass or singers in America. Yet if short-windedness affected the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, the performers didn't show it: the orchestra managed to project all the way to the back lawn seating, down to the closing number "When the Saints Go Marching In."
The Bravo! Vail Valley Festival is an annual event that has been bringing classical music to the beautiful Colorado mountains every summer since 1987.
Sources
Stripling, Byron. Program Notes.
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