Jazz Lab Band has great plans for season

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The Northern Illinois University Jazz Lab Band, under the direction of Rodrigo Villanueva, and the NIU All-University Jazz Band, directed by Shawn Bell and Zavier Breaker, will perform their first joined concert of the Fall 2009 season.

The free concert starts at 8 p.m. today at Boutell Memorial Concert Hall, 550 Lucinda Ave. in DeKalb.

The bands will perform an eclectic and very entertaining program, covering many musical styles within the jazz/big band genre. The concert will include works by John Coltrane, Sunny Rollins, Thad Jones, Bob Mintzer and Rodrigo Villanueva.

This year, both bands have many new members, and according to Villanueva, the new edition of the NIU Jazz Lab Band has many promising young talents. The 2009-10 edition of the Lab Band combines the experience of upperclassmen Natalie Scharf, Brett Hedrick, Malcom Burks, Matt Judson, James Miller, Joel Ream, Drew Schreiber, Jacob Slocum, Kyle Stephens and Matt Todd, with the talent of a new group of freshman students who are already seasoned players, such as Kimberly Branch, Kristen Gaskey, Casey Grogg, Lisa Oller, Ivan Arden, Samuel Jewell, Joshua Singleton, Andrew Szymanek and Drew Tobias.

In 2008, the NIU Jazz Lab Band won first place at the 41st UW-Eau Claire Jazz Festival and it was featured at several international jazz festivals in Mexico. Future plans for the band include participating at the 21st annual Super Computing Conference in Portland, Ore., via Internet2: the Lab Band’s next concert on Nov. 16 will be part of a demonstration of the applications of Internet2 at this prestigious Super Computing conference.

The Lab Band also will present a clinic and concert at the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Conference on Jan. 29.