Preview: The Empire Jazz Orchestra Reunion Benefit Concert Thursday, March 26 at SUNY Schenectady Community College
Call it an encore, a one-night-only reunion after nearly a decade.
Founder Bill Meckley leads the reunited Empire Jazz Orchestra Thursday at SUNY Schenectady Community College, bringing top area jazz performers to the same stage that was longtime home for the big band. Then and now, it plays both historic and forward-looking music, on a strong educational mission. It will benefit scholarships at the music school where Meckley first organized it.
“I was teaching at SCCC in the late 80’s and had been thinking about starting a band,” said Meckley recently from his Lexington, Kentucky home.
A Place for Jazz (APFJ) founder/leader Butch Conn helped form the vision, and then-SCCC president Gabe Basil gave the green light.
“Butch knew I was interested in historic jazz and asked if I would put together a children’s concert,” said Meckley. “I formed an eight-piece group which I named the Empire Jazz Orchestra.” After two APFJ shows, Meckley expanded the octet into a flexible big band.
Historic jazz scores formed Meckley’s EJO blueprint. “Many original scores of Duke Ellington and other important composers were becoming available for the first time.”
Meckley searched for vintage scores across jazz history. Noting Jazz at Lincoln Center published the The Ellington scores, he said other historical scores began to resurface, by Billy Strayhorn, Oliver Nelson, Jelly Roll Morton, Mary Lou Williams and Benny Carter. Early on, EJO played major Ellington/Strayhorn works including “The Far East Suite” and “The Latin American Suite,” also shorter pieces.
“Some music I found in weird places,” Meckley said. “The early Gil Evans scores, for example, which he wrote for the Claude Thornhill band in the 1940s, I got from Drury College in Missouri.” In addition to historic scores, contemporary transcribers are re-constructing vintage pieces; Joe Muccioli revived Gil Evans/Miles Davis big-band works including “Sketches of Spain” that the EJO plays.
Bill Meckley provided this EJO photo; he stands at left in gray jacket. This shows a past line-up, but many of the same players perform Thursday.
In Thursday’s reunion concert, EJO will play original scores of Duke Ellington, Oliver Nelson, John Clayton, Charles Mingus and Cab Calloway, plus Sammy Nestico’s big band charts on Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.”
“We will also be playing original music by EJO members Keith Pray, Dylan Canterbury and Jim Corigliano,” Meckley said. “Featured soloists will include SUNY Schenectady Jazz faculty members (saxophonist) Brian Patneaude and (trumpeter) Dylan Canterbury on ‘A Night in Tunisia;’ saxophonists Keith Pray and Kevin Barcomb and trumpeter Vito Speranza will be featured on Duke Ellington’s ‘Portrait of Louis Armstrong,’ (clarinetist) Brett Wery on Benny Goodman’s ‘Let’s Dance,’ and Colleen Pratt will be featured vocalist, singing music of Cab Calloway, Pat Williams, and others.”
The EJO roster Thursday: Keith Pray, Jim Corigliano, Kevin Barcomb, Brian Patneaude and Brett Wery, saxophones and reeds; Jon Bronk, Vito Speranza, Dylan Canterbury and Terry Gordon, trumpets; Ken Olsen, Gary Barrow, Ken DeRagon and Dan Cordell, trombones; Mike Novakowski, guitar; Otto Gardner, bass; Bob Halek, drums; Nick Lue, piano; Mark Foster, percussion; and Colleen Pratt, vocals.
Again recalling EJO history, Meckley noted how successful shows at APFJ and SCCC (in conjunction with the musicians union) led to what Meckley called “an extremely successful partnership.” When he approached SCCC then-president Gabe Basil about establishing EJO as a resident jazz repertory ensemble, they agreed the school would provide facilities and assistance with publicity and grant applications.
In EJO’s 20 years on campus, SCCC also funded EJO’s popular and influential Jazz Masters Series featuring guest stars including Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Dave Holland, Slide Hampton, Lew Soloff, David “Fathead” Newman, Randy Brecker and others.
Averaging two on-campus concerts annually, EJO played historic works large and small, including the Gil Evans/Miles Davis “Sketches of Spain” and “Miles Ahead,” plus the original Paul Whiteman version of “Rhapsody in Blue.” They also commissioned new music by visitors Rufus Reid and Bill Holman plus EJO members Keith Pray and Jim Corigliano. “The Holman piece ‘Nautilus’ was commissioned as a solo feature for Nick Brignola, a dear friend,” said Meckley, who recalled playing big-band charts of Frank Zappa music, “which I loved doing.”
Meckley retired from SCCC in 2015, closed down EJO and moved to Lexington, Kentucky where he leads the Lexington Brass Band, and plays trombone with the Lexington Chamber Brass and others. A Porsche enthusiast, he also instructs sports car race drivers, including at Watkins Glen.
Looking back through the decades of EJO, Meckley said, “I believe our first performance was at APFJ in 1997. We also played occasional festival performances, and we did the Price Chopper Mothers Day concert at SPAC one year.”
In 2018, the EJO reunited at Music Haven in an “Encore” concert.
Thursday marks another, at the Carl B. Taylor Auditorium of SUNY Schenectady County Community College – a benefit supporting scholarships to the music school Meckley once led.
7 p.m. $25 http://www.sunysccc.edu/ejo
Hoke's Jukebox 