Department of Music

• Saturday, November 21, 2009
• Old Cabell Hall
• 8:00pm
• $15 Adults / $8 Students / Free for UVA Students who reserve in advance

On Saturday November 21st, the Free Bridge Quintet will present its fall concert at 8:00 p. m. in Old Cabell Hall auditorium. The Quintet, comprised of U. Va.’s McIntire Department of Music jazz faculty, will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the year 1959.

Why 1959? In his new book, “1959: The Year That Changed Everything”, Fred Kaplan argues that this year turned out to be ground zero for many of the social, scientific and artistic upheavals that would shape our current world. As Kaplan puts it, “many groundbreaking record albums, books, and movies—Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce, Norman Mailer's Advertisement for Myself, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, François Truffaut's The 400 Blows—were all released in 1959.”

1959 was a year of both stylistic culmination and revolutionary breakthrough as a short list of record releases from that year readily reveals. Besides Kind of Blue and The Shape of Jazz to Come, John Coltrane released his landmark recording, Giant Steps, Charles Mingus recorded Mingus Ah Um, and Dave Brubeck released Time Out. Taken together, these albums can be seen as a declaration of jazz’s self-awareness as a serious, socially relevant art form and not just popular music. From the virtuosic harmonic improvisations of Giant Steps to the abandonment of traditional harmonic schemes in The Shape of Jazz to Come; from the passion and political awareness found in Mingus Ah Um to the cool and detached aesthetic permeating Kind of Blue; to the fusion of classical and jazz elements in Time Out, these recordings represent the culmination of trends that evolved throughout the 50’s even as they presage the new directions jazz musicians would explore for the next fifty years.

To commemorate this pivotal year in jazz, the Free Bridge Quintet will perform ten selections from these five landmark recordings. There will also be a pre-concert lecture given by Jeff Decker, Free Bridge saxophonist, explaining the significance of this monumental year and the importance of the five albums showcased in the concert. Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students, and free for UVA students who reserve on-line in advance. Tickets can be purchased at www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu or by calling the Arts Box Office at 434-924-3376. The Free Bridge Quintet includes John D’earth on trumpet, Jeff Decker on saxophones, Bob Hallahan on piano, Peter Spaar on bass and Robert Jospe on drums..

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