KSC Jazz Ensemble Rekindles the Latin Fire
KEENE, N.H., 4/17/07 - Keene State College’s Jazz Ensemble, directed by KSC artist-in-residence Don Baldini, will perform a Latin-flavored concert on Wednesday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth ages 17 or younger. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.
“Latin Fire…Rekindled!” is the third Latin-flavored concert that Baldini has put together. This year, the Jazz Ensemble will perform “Cubano Chant” by Ray Bryant; Victor Lopez’s “A Tribute to Tito Puente”; Antonio Carlos Jobim’s popular “Girl from Ipanema”; “Land of Make Believe” by Chuck Mangione; Luiz Bonfa’s “Gentle Rain”; “Los Matadores” by Carl Strommen; “Malaguena” by Ernesto Lecuona; and Phillip Brahams’s jazz classic “Limehouse Blues.” Guest saxophone, flute, and piccolo soloist Paul Lieberman will join the Jazz Ensemble.
Lieberman has toured with Brazilian Jazz stars Airto and Flora Purim. In 1985 he moved to Rio de Janeiro for four years, where he became Brazil’s first call sax and flute player. He has recorded on more than 50 albums and has also appeared on tracks alongside such names as Pat Metheny, David Sanborn, and Don Grusin, as well as Brazil’s top instrumentalists. Lieberman still performs in Brazil, and he has been a featured artist and presented Master Classes at area colleges and universities. He has also served as President of the Board of Directors of the Northampton Arts Council, as the Mayor’s appointee to Northampton’s Academy of Music Theater’s Board of Trustees, and as a member of the Hampshire County United Way’s Community Investment Panel.
In addition to conducting the KSC Jazz Ensemble, Baldini directs the KSC Chamber Orchestra. He came to Keene State after a professional career as a studio musician in Los Angeles. He appeared for 13 years with the Tonight Show Orchestra and toured with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, and the Harry James and Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin bands. He can be heard on the soundtracks of The Little Mermaid and St. Elsewhere and broadcasts at Disney World and the Epcot Center. He currently performs with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Dartmouth Symphony, Opera North, the Keene Chamber Orchestra, and several local chamber music and jazz groups. With the Cincinnati Symphony, Baldini recently recorded the music of Nelson Riddle for a CD released on the Telarc label.
Located off Wyman Way, the Redfern Arts Center is accessible to people with disabilities. To request accommodations for a disability, please call the box office, 603-358-2168, at least two weeks before the recital.
