Department of Music

The UVA Jazz Ensemble and Director John D’earth present Stratospheric Trumpet Sensation Rob Quallich as Their Special Guest in, A CALL FOR ALL DEMONS –
New and Classic Dimensions of Large Ensemble Jazz

The modern big band, which developed from the big bands of the thirties and forties when the popularity of jazz was at its height, can speak in a variety of voices and styles.  And there can be radically different approaches to how music is produced by a large jazz ensemble.

On Friday, October 24th in Old Cabell Hall, the UVA Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of trumpeter John D’earth, will present, A CALL FOR ALL DEMONS – New and Classic Dimensions of Large Ensemble Jazz.

To ensure the maximum impact a brass-proud big band can provide, D’earth and the Ensemble have invited guest lead-trumpet player extraordinaire Rob Quallich to join in calling forth the many voices in which the modern jazz ensemble can speak.  Quallich is a twenty eight year old powerhouse with a stratospheric range, endless endurance, and an ability to swing with great accuracy at the top of a roaring, full-throated big band.  He played lead trumpet all last year for the Glenn Miller Orchestra and has led brass sections for every type of music from competitive drum and bugle corps to the Temptations, the Richmond Symphony, k.d. lang, the No B.S. Brass Band and many others.  Rob’s growing notoriety has led to performances as lead trumpet and soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and at music festivals around the world.

“Rob has a voice on trumpet that none of us mere mortals in the band can provide,” said D’earth.  “I have always played third and fourth trumpet for most of my big band work, the solo jazz chairs.   A true lead trumpet player with Rob’s kind of authenticity is a rarity.  I think our audience and our band will be stunned by the impact he provides.”

But the Jazz Ensemble will not only be performing powerhouse numbers that night.  They will explore the introspective and reflective side of large ensemble jazz and demonstrate what can happen at a whisper, or through group improvisation, or by playing a collective arrangement of a song written by a person from Saturn: A Call For All Demons composed by the extraterrestrial, Sun Ra. 

“Jazz is nothing if not diverse,” said featured trumpet soloist and International Relations graduate student Harrison Frye, “so it’s fitting that we base our concert on a tune from somewhere else in the solar system.  Besides, Halloween will be right around the corner.”

UVA Jazz Ensemble Director John D’earth is clear about his intentions for this particular band.  “As musicians we are enjoined by the jazz masters to find our own authentic voices.  Our goal is different than simply sounding like an accomplished university jazz ensemble.  We want to find our own sound and our own way of doing things based on the personalities of the director and the musicians in the band.  In this we emulate Duke Ellington.  At the present moment we have a highly creative, versatile, and, in some cases (e.g. lead trombonist and community volunteer Doug Bethel,) virtuosic band  that can speak in a variety of musical voices.  At UVA most of the jazz ensemble members are concentrating on subjects other than jazz performance.  But they are talented, motivated, and accomplished.  As a liberal arts institution our goal for our students is “music for life” so we don’t invoke a conservatory atmosphere.  We work toward a sustainable, life-long musical path of one’s own.  We think of the jazz greats who have said, “tell your story.”  Jazz teaches us to contribute to the collective in an individual voice from a unique personal history and from a shared experience.  So we want to highlight the many personal solo voices we now have in the band.” 

The band will present an evening of music that ranges from high energy charts like Thad Jones’ Little Dipper, Dizzy Gillespie’s Woodyn’ You, and Woody Herman’s arrangement of John Coltrane’s Lazy Bird, to quieter moments with music by John Abercrombie (Sidekicks) and by D’earth’s wife, singer/songwriter Dawn Thompson.  Ms. Thompson’s song Willowland will be performed as a vehicle for the solo voices within the band but without the original song she sang so many times.  D’earth and Thompson have collaborated since the seventies in the groups Cosmology and the Thompson D’earth Band.

“Dawn has been working with an illness that has prevented her from performing for several years,” said D’earth.  “This is one of her first songs and I love that we are using the outlines of the tune but not the song itself. It leaves lots of space for improvisation.  The soloists provide their own song.  It is very meditative and a beautiful setting for sensitive soloists in our band like trumpeter Lauralee Yeary, alto saxophonist Matthew Smith, and pianist Peter Hodskins.  On an open groove like this there is more room for soloists to explore their ideas and play more reflectively.  We want to show all sides of our sound: the tightest ensemble playing, the most classic big band sounds, the most free improvisation, and the many new ways that a big band can offer expressive possibilities to the musicians who make each band what it is. In this concert we want to hear all of the voices we can speak with, demonic and otherwise!”

Tickets are $10 for the general public, $5 for students and free for UVa Students who reserve in advance. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the Arts Box Office at 434.924.3376 or visiting www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda.  (map) Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner.  Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.

All programs are subject to change.

For more information please call the McIntire Department of Music at 434.924.3052.

To find out more about Jazz events at UVa visit https://music.virginia.edu/jazz-events.