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Nick Recktenwald
Visions Jazz Ensemble: Across the Field
by Jack Bowers
Here is a unique and intriguing concept: a baker's dozen collegiate anthems and fight songs, trimly recast in contemporary jazz settings by the seven-member Visions Jazz Ensemble, comprised of Indiana University alumni who stride Across the Field with an abundance of proficiency and perception. Although the hip arrangements by the ensemble's co-leaders, trumpeter Sam Butler and tenor saxophonist Garrett Fasig, sometimes turn these largely familiar songs inside out and upside down, every one of them has its ...
Continue ReadingTom Johnson Jazz Orchestra: Time Takes Odd Turns
by Jack Bowers
Time is not the only thing that has taken odd turns in composer/trumpeter Tom Johnson's life and career. Even though a musician at heart, he chose a more practical and lucrative path, spending his adult years as a psychologist and full-time professor at Indiana State University, placing his dream of a musical career on hold while he earned a living elsewhere. But the dream never died, and Johnson continued to study music, play and occasional gig, and explore jazz arranging ...
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