By: Maura Driscoll '15
A four-concert series led by Tim Olsen, associate professor of music, will kick off in Emerson Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center on Sept. 26. Showcasing the evolution of jazz music, these concerts will be presented in conjunction with Olsen’s History of Jazz course.
Beginning with a six-piece group playing ragtime and early jazz selections, these concerts will be held on select Mondays at 3:05 p.m. Next, on Oct. 10, a 16-piece band will be exploring the repertoire for big band. The Oct. 31 concert will feature a quintet, highlighting bebop and cool jazz. On Nov. 14, more recent sounds of jazz will be presented by a quartet. Each concert offered is free and open to the public.
tracking down important, yet hard to find sheet music has been made less difficult thanks to the internet, Olsen said.
“I’ve worked with jazz enthusiasts from as far away as Canada and Germany as well as closer to home – Cohoes and Saratoga Springs – in putting together a sheet music library that surveys the most significant styles and trends in jazz,” the professor added.
However, some music is impossible to find. “Many of [jazz’s] creators have not employed music notation, except to provide a shorthand skeleton of melody, harmony and form…I’m trying to give my students the experience of hearing music the way the original artists would have played it,” he said.
For more information, contact Linda Goodman at (518) 388-6785 or visit union.edu/Music.