Class of 1961
Legacy 2010 Report from Legacy Committee |
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Dear Members of the Class of 1961:
The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra plays Dartmouth AnUpdate on The Legacy
The Class of ’61 Legacy co-presented what is perhaps “the most influential jazz big band of the contemporary era,” The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra brought its peerless ensemble sound to the Hopkins Center’s Spaulding Auditorium on Thursday, January 28th.
“This is the band in which every student musician dreams of playing, the band that virtually every college jazz orchestra tries to sound like. Nearly every band of the last 40 yearsis an unabashed spin-off. Indeed, It’s a safe bet that a majority of all the big bands in the world right now emulate the VJO.” The New York Sun
Along with the 2009 Grammy, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra won a 2004 Grammy for best arrangements for jazz orchestra and received two 2005 Grammy nominations for the ensemble’s pianist, composer and arranger, Jim McNeely.
The concert was part of a residency that began the previous night with a session coaching the Lebanon (N. H.) High School Jazz Band and that included an open rehearsal and Q & A session from 4-5 PM in Spaulding the day of the concert. The latter event was open to the public and was free.
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra Post Performance Spotlight
Sixty five people stayed for the post performance spotlight including Dartmouth students and high school students from Montpelier!
As the band struck the stage behind us, Director/trombonist John Mosca and trombonist/general manager Douglas Purviance along with the Hop’s Margret Lawrence took part in the discussion.
Purviance and Mosca described the beginnings of the VJO, through its changes in leadership to its current cooperative structure. They explained that Thad Jones, one of the founders, created works in which soloists had much more time to stretch out, and in which the complexity of the full band arrangements rivaled the sophistication you'd normally expect to hear only in a small combo.
They explained that the band deliberately doesn't decide what to play until that night, so they keep their approach fresh. That night they played the very new Suite by Bob Brookmeyer, so that was a great opportunity to get their eyes on it.
They play together every single Monday at the Village Vanguard, plus, of course, while on tours. When they receive new material (like the Brookmeyer Suite) or prep for a recording, that's when they rehearse. Outside of the band, its members also play on Broadway, in other combos, teach students, etc.
A young audience member asked what the word "vanguard" means, and Mosca replied |
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John Mosca at LebanonHigh School |
that it is the name of the club in the EastVillage, but that its connection to "being at the leading edge" also appealed to the band members.
An audience member asked who has been in the band the longest? Mosca said it's him--he's been with them since 1975. This led him to a funny story about his first gig, which was a tour in Japan. While the band did a gig in Ohio first, he scrambled to get his travel visa. Then he scrambled to learn the charts. One of the hardest charts for trombones always made him want to hang his head in his lap--because its note leaps were virtually impossible--and he remembered seeing the sax players in front of him laughing throughout the gig--at least, their shoulders were shaking. |
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On January 27, 2010, John Mosca, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra director and trombonist, led a coaching session for students of the LebanonHigh School Jazz Band
John Mosca, leader of the Vanguard Orchestra had a wonderful clinic with the Trombone section of the Lebanon, NH High school jazz band…. John worked wonderfully with the personal attention to each of the 4 students, helping them with their playing technique, breathing and offering perspective that only a professional of his stature could pull off. He made a great connection to a piece that they were rehearsing saying he was a student of this particular composer, a fact that really gave the material a personal touch allowing the students to connect directly to their performance.
Breathing technique took up the first 20 minutes of the session….Mouth control with and without the mouthpiece was covered and again he had each student show examples of how they breathe… All of these exercises were then referenced in how he showed them the scales that he wrote on the board. He stressed the importance and power of practicing just 20 minutes a day in building your bodies muscle memory. He related these scales to the circle of 4ths and had a nice round going with the students where he would solo over them going up and down the scales.
John also had wonderful things to say about music consumption and learning on the whole. "We need to listen more to learn how to play. We do it backwards in this country, not taking the time to listen before we learn."
This is The Legacy at it’s best. The photos speak for themselves. Great artists doing their best work both in performance and in direct and profoundly important contact with the Dartmouth family-- the larger community as well as students of the college and the local schools. It doesn’t get better than this.
This legacy, this gift, which we as a class have entrusted to Dartmouth will continue its important work within the college and the larger community for decades to come. And its presence and its power to enrich the performing arts at Dartmouth will continue to grow. The Class of 1961 has every right to celebrate and to be very proud.
With all best wishes,
David Birney |
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Dave Birney notes: I've just returned from Santa Cruz, ...business, the Shakespeare Festival there... finding here an assembly of emails amounting to an ancient history of jazz, blues, boogie woogie, stride, and a list of great musicians--Meade Lux, (I like that the Boogie-woogie contains riffs and steps right out of old vauldville/blackface routines), Tommy Johnson (a mad right hand) Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, "Pine top" Smith, James P. Johhson, “Fats,” Jerry Lee, Early Hynes, Rob Rio, Oscar Peterson--and encompassing some of our own--Dale, Melvoin, and on. Lord, Amen. Just in November 24, 2009 |