The Studio Jazz Ensemble (the UW Big Band-Marc Seales, director) and Modern Band (Cuong Vu, director) present a shared program of repertory selections, original music, and inspired arrangements. The Studio Jazz Ensemble pays tribute to Roy Cummings, the late, former longtime director of the Studio Jazz Ensemble, in a set dedicated to his memory.
Modern Band
Cuong Vu, director
Much to Give - Cole McKittrick
Manteca Groove - BLUEs.WEAVE
Tomorrow Is Yesterday - Coen Rios
Could Be Stranger - Natalie Song
Jai Kobi Kaleo'okalani, guitar; Cole McKittrick, guitar; Tobias Miller, drums; Coen Rios, tenor sax; Rory Somers, trumpet; Natalie Song, piano; Riley Tobin, bass
Studio Jazz Ensemble
Marc Seales, director
Hip Hop - Bob Mintzer
The Heart of the Matter - Bob Mintzer
Morning Dance - Jay Beckenstein, arr. John Higgins
Love Walked In - George and Ira Gershwin arr. Kim Richmond
Cottontail - Duke Ellington arr. Alan Blaylock
Bow Down to Washington - arr. Roy Cummings
Trombones: Alex Weber (lead), Jamison Schmidt, Josiah Bizure, Mark Henry
Trumpets: Benjamin von Jess (lead), Aidan Brannon, Colin Eneberg, Jameson Gibbs, Timmy Brock
Saxophones: Kevin Em (lead), Danian Raymundo, Ashton Garcia, Joey Kyne, Wesley Loechelt, Parker Duncan
Rhythm: Elise Soper, Jaden Zika, Teddy Seligman
Some Studio Jazz Ensemble Alumni
Brad Allison, Thomas Marriott, Mike Van Bebber, Dave Marriott, Jr., Scott Brown, Mark Taylor, Travis Ranney, Andrew Glynn, Michael Glynn, Steve Korn, Marc Seales
Colleagues
Michael Brockman, Marc Seales
Tribute to Roy Cummings
Cummings’ career at UW began in 1970 when he became a trumpet instructor after earning music and music education degrees at UW, and continued with his longtime leadership of the Studio Jazz Ensemble. He continued to teach at the School until his untimely death in January 2000, when he suffered a heart attack in the Music Building on his way to teach a class. Cummings was a passionate spokesperson for the importance of music and humanities education, and his opinions on the matter remain relevant today.
“Jazz education in the state of Washington is in pretty good shape,” he said in a 1985 interview in the Olympiannewspaper, “but it as well as all music education and humanities curricula are falling on hard times. Humanities education funding is playing second fiddle to the sciences. We can’t all be scientists. We need the human expression and humanities to relax. Music is a big part of that.” The performing arts, he said, are as necessary to the well-being of humankind as a balanced diet, and humanities education should be funded as well as sciences, physics, and nuclear sciences.
“These guys are nuclear, too,” he said in reference to the student musicians of the Studio Jazz Ensemble. “There’s some real explosions with these guys.”
Sidebar: Roy M. Cummings Endowed Scholarship Supports Rising Stars in Jazz
Support from the Roy M. Cummings Endowed Scholarship has enabled promising young jazz musicians to focus on their music studies while taking advantage of performance opportunities both at school and out in the clubs and coffeehouses that play host to the city’s most forward-thinking, musically adept, and creative young musicians.
“I see the scholarship as having afforded the recipients more time to focus on music while rewarding them for their hard work,” says Jazz Studies Chair Cuong Vu. “This kind of support is essential for us to not only keep sustaining these talented and driven young people, but also attracting more to the UW School of Music.” Gifts to the Roy M. Cummings Endowed Scholarship Fund helps the School of Music attract top students to the program and provides financial assistance to undergraduates studying jazz at UW.
To make a gift, or for more information, please call 206.685.6997, or make a gift online here.