Ensembles to jazz up Baylor campus

By Allie Matherne
Reporter

Baylor University’s two jazz ensembles, the Baylor Jazz Ensemble and the Concert Jazz Ensemble, will team up with world famous trumpet player Vince Dimartino in a free concert tonight.

Alex Parker, senior lecturer in jazz studies, will conduct both groups tonight.

“This is one of the first times that both jazz bands will be featured in a concert together,” McKinney senior Daniel Gerona said.

Gerona, a member of the Baylor Jazz Ensemble, said the band is unique because it plays a variety of genres within jazz.

“We play things performed in the 1940s, present day and everything in between,” Parker said. “If you go to New York [to see jazz], these are the songs they’ll be playing.”

Parker said the students are professional and preform at a high level.

Parker said he thinks it would be beneficial for other Baylor students to attend the concert and see the talent possessed by their peers.

“We’re really excited to have a world-class musician with us,” Gerona said.

Vince Dimartino will add a new level of professionalism to the group, Gerona said.

Dimartino’s career includes serving as president and vice president of The International Trumpet Guild as well as traveling around the country as a soloist.

“He is an outstanding trumpet player,” Parker said.