[Editor's note: The Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble performs its spring concert—director Don Glasgo's last before retirement—on Saturday, May 13.] By Sophia Kinne '20 I’ve been playing the trumpet since I was in fourth grade. I was introduced to jazz, as I knew it at the time, in fifth grade with a generic “Latin tune” called El Gato Gordo. Fifth grade me could not have imagined what this beginner’s jazz would later lead to: for one, playing the works of contemporary jazz musicians Joe Bowie and Peter Apfelbaum in my 2016 fall and 2017 winter terms with the Barbary Coast. I could never have … [Read more...]
Barbary Coast: joyful, spontaneous and delicious jazz
By Meghna Ray '20 According to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, “Jazz is like a sandwich. The first chorus (head) is like the top piece of bread, the last chorus (head) is like the bottom piece of bread, but what goes in the middle is up for grabs and is the best, most important, and most fun part.” If jazz is like a sandwich, the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble performance on Saturday, October 15, was the most delicious sandwich ever made. The Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble is Dartmouth’s student jazz ensemble consisting almost entirely of non-music majors and directed by Don Glasgo. The … [Read more...]
‘Musical conversations’: A shoutout from current Coasters
In this video by Jennie Evans '17, some current members of the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble say hi from inside their rehearsal room in the bowels of the Hop, where they're preparing for their October 22 concert. In the weeks to come, you'll be hearing from other Hop Ensembles as they get ready for their fall performances--vocal, symphonic and wind music of a gorgeous variety and high quality! https://youtu.be/d9LklvZrDp8 More on the Barbary Coast and its fall concert: In the mid-1970s, a young jazz-playing Dartmouth College library employee took the helm of what had been a … [Read more...]
