{"id":181,"date":"2019-07-17T18:17:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/babyboomerchristmas\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:17:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:17:58","slug":"babyboomerchristmas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/babyboomerchristmas\/","title":{"rendered":"WCSU to present Holiday Jazz and ‘A Baby Boomer Christmas’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 Western Connecticut State University\u2019s Jazz Studies program will present its annual Holiday Jazz concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 11, in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the university\u2019s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. The concert will be free and donations to support the department of music will be accepted.<\/p>\n

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Performing will be Frankensax, directed by Andrew Beals; the WCSU Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dave Scott; and the Jazz Studio Orchestra, conducted by Jamie Begian. <\/p>\n

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Frankensax will open the show with Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d and arrangements of John Coltrane\u2019s \u201cCentral Park North\u201d and \u201cGiant Steps.\u201d The Jazz Ensemble will follow with an arrangement of \u201cOh Christmas Tree\u201d and a jazz tune featuring various members of the band.<\/p>\n

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After a brief intermission, the WCSU Jazz Studio Orchestra will serve up \u201cA Baby Boomer Christmas.\u201d Opening the set will be an arrangement of \u201cSleigh Ride\u201d (as sung by Andy Williams) featuring vocalist Ashleigh D\u2019Addio, followed by a cover of Jimmy Webb\u2019s immortal \u201cUp, Up and Away\u201d (as sung by the Fifth Dimension). Tenor saxophonist Dan O\u2019Brien will be featured on Jim McNeely\u2019s \u201cAbsolution\u201d and alto saxophonist Jason Fitch will be featured on Billy Strayhorn\u2019s \u201cIsfahan.\u201d After the ensemble tune, Frank Foster\u2019s \u201cShiny Stockings,\u201d the set will close with D\u2019Addio singing another Andy Williams arrangement: \u201cWalkin\u2019 in a Winter Wonderland.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Music Department Chair and Coordinator of Jazz Studies Jamie Begian explained the concept behind \u201cA Baby Boomer Christmas.\u201d \u201cI always loved those old variety shows from the \u201960s, particularly the holiday-themed ones that Andy Williams used to put on every year. As I became more astute musically I gradually realized the incredible production values and artistry that went into those shows and how that was becoming a lost art. \u2018A Baby Boomer Christmas\u2019 is my attempt to recreate those performances and keep them relevant to our students as an important part of the culture of jazz\/popular music in America. The sound of the strings and choir with the regular Jazz Orchestra is pretty cool, too!\u201d<\/p>\n

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For more information, call (203) 837-8350.<\/p>\n

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Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.
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DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 Western Connecticut State University\u2019s Jazz Studies program will present its annual Holiday Jazz concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 11, in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the university\u2019s Midtown campus, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-181","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}