lifestyles
Cuttin' some tunes
The KU Jazz Ensemble I is releasing its second compact disc next month.
Photo courtesy of Dan Gilley
By Jake Arnold Kansan staff writer
The KU Jazz Ensemble is releasing its second CD in April. Their first,
"Guarabe," was released in October 1992.
K UJazz Ensemble I is good enough that when they toot their own horns, people listen. Jofact, when their comin what event will their compact disc comes out April 15, people will be able to listen over and again.
KU Jazz Ensemble I recorded nine pieces at the Lied Center last spring for an album titled "Wyrgly," after one of the charts on the CD.
Dan Gailey, director of the album,
said the album was done mostly for
educational and promotional purposes.
Profit was not a consideration
practice "We haven't not required a consultation"
"We haven't recouped our expenses"
The Music and Dance Department paves for it all
from the last one," said Gailey, to refer to "Guarabe," a CD consisting of the jazz ensemble with singing, which was put out in 1992 by the University of Kansas. "If we get in the black, we will put it toward a new recording project."
Krebs, a composition major, wrote an arrangement of "Here's that Rainy Day" with a solo trombone part that
he plays.
Krebs is one of several members who was on both the first CD and this one. He sees a definite difference between the two.
"The quality is better," he said. "It shows how far we have come."
and receives the proceeds from the
$12 CDs.
Students,however,receive the benefits.
Krebs said working on the CD was a great experience.
"It is a great opportunity," he said. "It gives everybody a chance to get their name out."
“It’s cool,” said Myron Brimm, East St. Louis, Ill., senior. Brimm plays trumpet on the album. “You learn a little more about what it takes to be in a band.”
Jesse Krebs, Oskaloosa senior,
received more than just playing experience — he wrote one of the pieces.
"Wyrigly" will be distributed by the Music and Dance Office, which is taking advance orders. The CD may also be sold by KU bookstores and local
"We feel we have something to contribute musically."
Paul Haar
Fremont, Neb., graduate student
record stores, as was "Guarade." In addition,
negotiations are being made to have it distributed nationally by a company in Los Angeles. The album will be printed in a limited run of 1,000 CDs—no tapes or records or eight-tracks will be made. "It is a more specialized release," said Galley, director of jazz studies. "It won't be in every store and only three to five copies in a store."
Gailey holds auditions to determine who may take Jazz Ensemble for class credit. Prospective students must demonstrate sight reading ability, perform a piece of prepared music and also do an improvised solo.
The album took more than just student input. Charts, the separate ensemble pieces, were bought from several sources. Maria Schneider, a composer from New York, prepared
four of the arrangements. Steve Owen, a University of Oregon professor, did two and Chuck Dotas, a teacher at the University of McGill in Montreal, did two. Each of the charts has sections that are structured and sections that allow for improvisations, a mainstay of jazz.
Paul Haar, Fremont, Neb, graduate student, plays saxophone on the CD. He feels the album is a very unique effort.
"Musically, it shows the big band in a different light," he said. "The composition takes the big band and gives it the intimacy of a small group. It is not mainstream. It is a lot of really unusual, beautiful music. We feel we have something to contribute musically."
"It sounds like it is recorded in a high-priced studio," he said. "We want people to say, 'Wow! I can't believe this is a college band.' I'm very honored that I am at a school that the talent level is high enough to merit a CD."
Haar thinks the recording was a high quality piece of work.
The Jazz Players
The members of KU Jazz Ensemble I, which recently recorded the compact disc "Wrygly."
Saxonhone
Paul Haar
Scott Taylor
John White
Jeremy Lock
Marqueel Jordan
Richard Wheeler
Trumpets
Daniel O'Brien Gary Leopold
Myron Brimm Kevan Long
Chip Park Heather Mahone
Trombones
Trombones
Jesse Krebs
John Tranter
Norm Vagn
Matt McCready Lindsey Williams
Rhythm
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Steve Erickson, piano
Scott Leff, guitar
William McDonald, bass
Jeff Harshbarger, bass
Michael Warren, drums
David Nutting, percussion
Cultural Calendar
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Exhibition—African-American Works from the Collection, through Sunday at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Lecture—"Delirium in the Arts: Medieval Manuscripts of the Apocalypse," by George Greenia, 7 p.m. Thursday at the Auditorium in the Spencer Museum of Art.
PERFORMANCES
Department of Music and Dance presents a Doctoral Lecture-Recital featuring Mary Jane Kania, 7:30 tonight at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Student Recital featuring Mike MacFarland, 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Swarthowton Recital Hall.
KU Opera presents "Sir John in Love," 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Friday at the Lied Center, Tickets $6 public, $3 students and senior citizens.
Hanks could enter back-to-back award circle
By Bob Thomas Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES — If Tom Hanks is proclaimed best actor of 1994 at the Academy Awards on March 27, he will have accomplished a movieridriness — winning two Oscars back-to-back.
Luise Rainer, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Jason Robards. Nominated this year as the overachieving simpleton in "Forrest Gump," Hanks was named best actor last year for "Philadelphia."
It's not exactly on par with a grand slam in tennis or UCLA's string of NCAA basketball titles. But only four actors have done it in Academy history:
Hanks is no shoo-in, according to conventional wisdom. Hollywood dearly loves a comeback story, and few have been as dramatic as John Travolta's return as the
Tom Hanks
hit-man charmer in "Pulp Fiction."
The best-actor category includes three other powerful performances: Niel Hawthorne, the
dotty monarch in "The Madness of King George": Paul Newman, the town crank in "Nobody's Fool" and Morgan Freeman, the pragmatic convict in "The Shawshank Redemption."
When Freeman first read the script of "The Shawshank Redemption," he was taken with the character of Red, the lifer in a brutal prison who earns a reputation for supplying all the other convicts' needs. no matter what the contraband
The role brought his third Academy nomination; he previously was named for support as the street pimp in "Street Smart" and for lead actor as the dutiful chauffeur in "Driving Miss Daisy".
"It was a great script and a great character," the actor commented on the set of "Seven," his current film. "Red is the narrator of the film, so he sort of dictates the action. It's the kind of role an actor yearns for."
Through most of his career, Hanks had been known as a comedy actor, beginning in a silly sitcom, "Bosom Buddies," and rising to an Academy nomination as best actor for "Big." Last year, he went serious with the AIDS-streaked lawyer who fights for his job in "Philadelphia."
"I have been walking on the peaks of the moon
for a couple of years," he told the media afterwy
ning his Golden Globe for "Forrest Gump."
"I know that I am going to choke one of these days down the line. I hope I have my head in a pretty good place when that happens."
Hawthorne created the role of the daft George III on the stage and repeated it in the movie "The Madness of King George," winning critical acclaim as well as an Academy nomination. Born in Coventry, England, and raised in South Africa, the actor was little known in the United States. He long has been one of England's distinguished actors in theater and television. His few films include "Gandhi," "Firefox" and "Demolition Man."
"The Oscars were something in a million years I never would have associated myself with, even as a member of the audience, let alone as a nominee," he said. "It was just beyond the scope of my imagination."
"Now it's all sort of starting to get a reality. I'll have to iron my shirts and all that."
With "Hud," "The Hustler." "Cool Hand Luke and others. Newman established his portrolue of
Industrial-strength Newman, longest lasting of today's stars, tallied his eighth best-actor nomination for his role in "Nobody's Fool." He received the Omer for "The Color of Money" in 1986.
the anti-hero, society's loser.
Travolta's last Oscar nomination came in 1977 for "Saturday Night Fever."
Paul Newman
"I think it's a way of saying, 'There's more to me than what I look like,'" he said. "I didn't seek out those roles. They're probably written better. Maybe it'S because the writers — good writers — try to choose people who are loners or anti-heroes for characters."
"I'm pretty excited about being rediscovered by the Academy," he said.
The actor said that when he read Quentin Tarantino's script he realized "I had to pull out all the stops. ... I said to myself, 'This is one of those rare opportunities of a good script — maybe even a great script — and a terrific director who's willing to put his reputation on the line.'"
Travolta said he feels rebelry by the reaction to "Pulp Fiction" — "It wasn't that I just couldn't get a job; the jobs I could get were not near the quality that I learned out with."