ON the Beat | Student Jazz Body Politics, Eyeing the Season to Come

Jazz may not be an official field of study at UCSB, but the music makes its presence vibrantly known a few times a year, thanks to the dedicated work of longstanding jazz ensemble leader and drummer Jon Nathan. Jazz was alive and well — rendered at Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall last week, when Nathan led the finale of the year with this incarnation of students.

It was also encouraging to see a nearly full house appreciating the goods, from the full big band and break-away combos. There were a lot of young people with faces (to paraphrase Buddy Rich) and open ears in the house on this night.

Programmatically, Nathan managed to touch on many significant regions of the jazz landscape, within the standard big-band vernacular and beyond. Fittingly, the concert commenced with an old standard, “Strike Up the Band,” before segueing into combo mode for Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud” and the iconoclastic singer Betty Carter’s “Please Do Something,” with vocalist Jean Lamb taking on the vocal part.

Back in big-band land, Thad Jones’s “Three and One” and the Buddy Rich chart on the West Side Story Suite brought on the visceral large ensemble heat, with the latter featuring tastefully agile drummer Krish Jain. A combo take on “Comes Love” featured impressive turns by vocalist Anjali Koures and guitarist Tyler Wiederanders. Among the other standout players and soloists in the band were assured bassist Emily Conrad and saxist Liam Coggon. For my non-objective money, the best-of-show solo was delivered by trombonist Sriram Ramamurthy.

Personally, my ears were more attuned to the substantive big-band writing/thinking of Maria Schneider, via her intriguing twist on a blues chart, “Gumba Blue.” Another high point was an emotional poignant note, via Billy Strayhorn’s deathbed wonder “Blood Count,” featuring alto saxist Moremi Kaplan on the pensively gorgeous melody (Kaplan was also awarded the annual Loren Toder Scholarship Award).

Closing out the night, the Yellowjackets charmer “Revelation” — penned by Russell Ferrante and arranged by Bob Mintzer — left us on a warm, high note of gospel-infused energy, given an emotive boost by the robust pipes of vocalist Atalia Zarndt. We left the hall with Ferrante’s infectious and spirited melody ringing in our ears, a lovely exit strategy.

Sizing Up the Next Serious Musical Season

Now that the various classical music organisms have settled down for a long summer’s nap, it’s time to take an overview look at the 2024-25 season to come — or at least the components ready to unveil. Still to come, news of the concert season data from CAMA and UCSB Arts & Lectures.

The Santa Barbara Symphony, which closed out its season two weeks ago with a Gershwin-phonic jazz/classical meeting with pianist Marcus Roberts, has planned a season with highlights including an opening program with old faves, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and the most popular guitar concert, Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez (Oct. 19-20), a “French Connection” (Nov. 17) and Mozart Marathon (Jan. 18-19, 2025). The ongoing film music features Chaplin’s The Gold Rush at 100 (Feb. 15-16), a provocative program with Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins (with spicy vocalist Storm Large) and other intriguing musical offshoots (Mar. 22-23), a “community collaboration” on the theme of Brahms’s Requiem (Apr. 26-27), and a season-capping Gil Shaham Weekend (May 17-18).

Opera Santa Barbara, recent recipient of an Indy Award for their winning production of the contemporary opera Zorro, heads down a more meat-and-potatoes path for the upcoming three opera season, with Pagliacci (Nov. 8 and 10), The Marriage of Figaro (Feb. 21 and 23, 2025), and The Daughter of the Regiment (May 2 and 4). As a bit of post-COVID housekeeping, the latter production is a revival of a project planned for the 2020-21 season.

Chamber music adventures in the dark, from Baroque to contemporary, continue, courtesy of the trusty organization Camerata Pacifica in the coming season. True to the group’s long-standing agenda of blending eras and genres, the seasonal calendar at Hahn Hall opens with a French menu (Sept. 20) and closes with a Chopin sandwich — folded into music of contemporary composers William Bolcom and Lera Auerbach (May 16). In between come varied monthly programs, including two evenings in the organization’s new Baroque sidebar program, led by flutist Emi Ferguson.

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To-Doings:

On the Santa Barbara Bowl front this week, the Brothers Osborne (not to be confused with the vintage bluegrass act Osborne Brothers) bring their popular modern country sound to town on Friday, May 31, and the great American Tedeschi Trucks Band makes it eagerly awaited return to the big stage on their current Deuces Wild tour, on Wednesday, June 5 (see story here).