2/8/2005

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

SRU TRADITIONAL ‘TAKE 5’ CONCERT TO RAISE JAZZ SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS

           SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University’s annual “Take 5” concert, featuring members of the Butler County Symphony Orchestra and the SRU faculty, will be presented at 4 p.m. Feb. 20 in Swope Recital Hall on the university campus while helping raise funds for the Terry Steel Jazz Scholarship for incoming SRU jazz students. 

This popular double quintet event features the classical Symphony Wind Quintet and the SRU Faculty Jazz Quintet offering a variety of musical styles. Admission is $5.

The wind quintet, made up of principle players of the symphony orchestra, including Charles Norton on clarinet, Mary Gibbons, bassoon, Denise Mintier, French horn along with SRU faculty members Stacey Steele, flute, and Gary Purifoy, oboe, will open the program. The group will offer “Quintet for Wind Instruments No. 2 in d-minor" by classical-era composer Giuseppe Cambini, followed by a diverse composition by contemporary Cuban jazz performer/composer Paquito D'Rivera titled “Aires Tropicales.” The six-movement work reflects D'Rivera's Cuban heritage from the rousing “Contradanza” to "Afro," which adds the "color" instruments, English horn and alto flute. The quintet will conclude with an arrangement of “The Roaring Twenties.”

For the second half the SRU Faculty Jazz Quintet will feature Terry Steele, saxophone, Steve Hawk, trumpet, David Glover, drums, Jeff Mangone, bass, and former SRU faculty member Steve Snyder, piano. The quintet will present interpretations of numerous original compositions by Terry Steele as well as several selections from the standard jazz repertoire. “We always enjoy seeing where our ideas take us as we put together the jazz tunes for our half of the concert. Unlike the style of the classical woodwind quintet, which traditionally performs from the printed page, jazz contains the element of improvisation not only in the solos, but in how we structure each piece,” says Steele.

PN, PgN, WPN, PR