Fri 5/9 @ 7:30-9:30PM
Sat 5/10 @ 8PM
For 40 years, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra has provided an outlet for the cream of northeast Ohio’s jazz musicians to perform big band music, as well as to compose and arrange for that format. The ensemble is a mixture of some of the area’s storied veteran players as well as its young rising stars.
It will be celebrating its legacy and its continuing vibrancy this weekend with a program called “Past Present and Future,” which it will perform Friday at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in University Circle and on Saturday at BLU Jazz+ in downtown Akron. It will tip its musical hat to previous directors, including its first formal conductor Roland Paolucci, his successor trumpeter Jack Schantz (still an ensemble member) and young trumpet player Sean Jones who led the ensemble from 2009-2015. Trombone player Paul Ferguson currently leads the group. Among the pieces it will perform are new arrangements by current CJO members Aidan Plank and Brad Wagner, and original works by former CJO members Chas Baker, Sam Blakeslee, and Howie Smith. It will also honor Baker for his contributions to the ensemble and to the jazz scene and music education in northeast Ohio.
Get tickets for the Maltz concert here and the BLU Jazz+ concert here.