Illustrious Aardvark Jazz Orchestra Opens 42nd Season with New cd Release at Scullers Jazz Club

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, one of the longest running large jazz ensembles in the world, opens its 42nd season with a show celebrating the North American release of the band’s 12th CD, Impressions (Leo Records), featuring compositions by Aardvark music director Mark Harvey. The band will perform selections from the new CD (The Journey, recalling struggles for school desegregation, and West End Rundown), plus a rare Django Reinhardt composition Manoir de mes Reves, arranged by Bob Brookmeyer, as well as Gerry Mulligan's seldom heard A Ballad. Rounding out the show will be Dizzy Gillespie's Manteca, and the Mary Lou Williams classic Roll 'Em. Reservations and information: 617-562-4111 or www.scullersjazz.com...

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The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, one of the longest running large jazz ensembles in the world, opens its 42nd season with a show celebrating the North American release of the band’s 12th CD, Impressions (Leo Records), featuring compositions by Aardvark music director Mark Harvey. The band will perform selections from the new CD (The Journey, recalling struggles for school desegregation, and West End Rundown), plus a rare Django Reinhardt composition Manoir de mes Reves, arranged by Bob Brookmeyer, as well as Gerry Mulligan's seldom heard A Ballad. Rounding out the show will be Dizzy Gillespie's Manteca, and the Mary Lou Williams classic Roll 'Em. Reservations and information: 617-562-4111 or www.scullersjazz.com

The new CD, Impressions, features compositions by Aardvark music director Mark Harvey, an award-winning composer, band leader, trumpeter and educator who has performed and lectured in the U.S., Mexico and Europe. Impressions is the band’s 7th disc on Leo, one of the world’s leading adventurous music labels whose catalogue includes such notables as Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton. The album title refers to impressionistic music conjuring up of a variety of moods, emotions, and tone colors, and to impressions of historical events. Standing in a long line of such music by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Charlie Haden, several of Harvey's compositions are inspired by socio-cultural events, specifically on Boston themes: The Journey recalling the long struggle for school desegregation, West End Rundown, a tone-parallel to the urban renewal fiasco of Boston's West End neighborhood, and Passione, an evocation of the tragedy of Sacco and Vanzetti. This exploratory music ranges from the lyrical to the Dada-esque, from the meditative to the monumental.

Founded in 1973, Aardvark has been a force in the international jazz scene for more than 40 years. The band has premiered more than 150 works for jazz orchestra, performs widely, and appears on 12 CDs. The latest disc, Impressions (Leo Records), is now available in Europe, with the North American release coming up October 2, 2014 at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston. Guest artists who have appeared with Aardvark include jazz luminaries Jaki Byard, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Giuffre, Geri Allen, Lewis Porter, Vinny Golia, Dominique Eade, Jay Clayton, Paul Lovens, Rajesh Mehta, Matt Savage and Walter Thompson.

Mark Harvey is Aardvark’s founder, music director, and principal composer/arranger. He has performed as trumpeter in the U.S., Mexico and Europe; has recorded with George Russell (Blue Note) and Baird Hersey (Arista/Novus); and performed with Gil Evans, Claudio Roditi, Howard McGhee, Sam Rivers, Joe Carroll, Kenny Dorham and others. He has received awards and commissions from ASCAP, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the 15th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble and Meet-the-Composer-Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program, among others. World premieres of Harvey’s commissions have featured Joe Lovano, Steve Turre, Herb Pomeroy, Ran Blake and others. Dr. Harvey teaches jazz studies and composition at MIT. He is a board member of the nonprofit jazz advocacy organization JazzBoston.

Aardvark is: Arni Cheatham, Peter Bloom, Phil Scarff, Chris Rakowski, Dan Zupan/saxes and woodwinds; K.C. Dunbar, Jeanne Snodgrass/trumpets; Bob Pilkington, Jay Keyser/trombones; Jeff Marsanskis, Bill Lowe/bass trombones, tuba; Richard Nelson/guitar; John Funkhouser/string bass; Harry Wellott/drums; Jerry Edwards and Grace Hughes, vocalists; Mark Harvey/trumpet, music director. Aardvark is managed by Americas Musicworks, Rebecca DeLamotte, Managing Director, 29 Newbury Street, Somerville, MA 02144-2442 USA, Telephone 617-776-8778.

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