SEPTEMBER 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lexington, VA -- Monday night, 18 September 2000, 8:00, Lenfest Center

The first Sonoklect concert of the 2000-2001 season is a dream come true for director, Terry Vosbein. Since his early teens he has been an admirer of the Stan Kenton Band. Every summer he attended week long music workshops sponsored by the Kenton band. He studied composition with the band’s arrangers and played in the student bands. During the rest of each year he composed music to take with him to the next workshop for evaluation and hopefully a performance.

And now the music of Stan Kenton will be on a double bill with Vosbein’s own compositions and arrangements, with Vosbein conducting an all-star ensemble.

The idea to conduct a concert of the music of Stan Kenton has long been a dream of Vosbein’s. Combining the music of his favorite jazz orchestra with his own compositions and arrangements seemed natural. Finding just the right musicians was his next task. Trombonist Tom Lundberg, no stranger to Sonoklect concerts, suggested the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, a band with which he had recently begun performing. Drummer Michael Vosbein, saxophonist Tom Artwick and guitarist Bert Carlson will all be featured with the band as well. And to round it all off, and give the band the authentic Kenton sound, trumpeter Mike Vax will be featured in solo and lead trumpet work. Vax spent six years as the lead trumpet with the Stan Kenton band and should add an extra element of excitement to an exciting program.

The first half of the concert will include compositions and arrangements by Vosbein. In addition to some newly revised compositions, a brand new composition entitled Parading Down South Rampart Street will be premiered. Inspired by a recent trip to his home town of New Orleans, Rampart Street captures the flavor of his daily walks down that famous street only a stone’s throw from Vosbein’s exact birth spot. And be sure to listen for his hot version of our own Washington and Lee Swing.

After an intermission the band will return in its homage to Kenton. A pioneering big band leader from the early 1940s to the late 1970s, Kenton’s music was always exciting and innovative. Music from all periods of the Kenton band will be featured, including a rare arrangement from the mid 1940s that Vosbein recently uncovered while doing research in the Kenton Archives at the University of North Texas.

This concert promises to be a high energy excitement filled evening. And as always, there will be a reception after the performance in which audience members can eat, drink, be merry and meet the performers.


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