Jazz Ensemble Plays Conductor's Favorites
KEENE, N.H., 04/07/09 - The Keene State College Jazz Ensemble, conducted by artist-in-residence Don Baldini, presents My Favorite Tunes on Wednesday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth ages 17 and younger. Tickets are available through the box office at 603-358-2168 or online at www.keene.edu/racbp.
Among Baldini’s favorites on the program are the Gershwins’ “Strike Up the Band,” Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park,” and “La Fiesta” by Chick Corea. Additional great tunes by Fats Waller, Gus Kahn, Chuck Mangione, Neil Hefti, and more will also be performed.
Pete Grimaldi of Amherst, Mass., will be a featured soloist on trumpet and flugelhorn. Grimaldi has played and toured throughout the Northeast and the Azores with the Air Force Band, based in New Jersey. After the military, Grimaldi toured throughout New England with various musical groups and is active in local theatre. He is currently a member of the Amherst Jazz Orchestra in Amherst, Mass., and is a faculty member teaching trumpet at Holyoke Community College.
Baldini came to KSC after appearing for 13 years with The Tonight Show Orchestra and touring with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, and the Harry James and Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Bands. Baldini currently appears with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Pioneer Valley Symphony, and Opera North, as well as several local chamber music and jazz groups. In addition to conducting the KSC Chamber Orchestra, he also directs the KSC Chamber Orchestra, which will perform on Friday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the Redfern Arts Center.
The KSC Jazz Ensemble is comprised primarily of KSC students and includes some community and faculty members.
