October 30, 2002

BOISE STATE PUTS ON FALL JAZZ BASH

A centennial salute to Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), tunes by legendary jazz composers, and the Boise State Big Band, Jazz Combo and Vocal Jazz will all be part of the Fall Jazz Bash at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the Boise State University Special Events Center. Admission at the door is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and free for students of all ages and Boise State faculty and staff.

The evening will start with the Jazz Combo, directed by Boise State music professor Ritchard Maynard. The combo will perform student-arranged works by Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard and other jazz greats.

Next the Vocal Jazz will present a tribute to Richard Rodgers, with favorites such as "My Romance," "With a Song in My Heart" and "My Favorite Things." Vocal Jazz, under the direction of Boise State music professor James Jirak, was invited to perform this program in October at the Sun Valley Jazz Jamboree. (Editors note: A fact sheet about Richard Rodgers follows this release.)

The Fall Jazz Bash will swing to a close with the Big Band playing original new tunes "Count Bubba" and "Mueva Los Huesos" by Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band and "Burbank Sackbut Brigade" by Rodger Meyers, featuring the trombone section with Luke Strother and Sean McNamara. Other featured soloists include Dan Cark on tenor sax, Noah Jefferies on guitar and Gene Harris Scholarship recipient Jonathan Alexander on trumpet. The Big Band is directed by Gene Harris Jazz Festival Executive Director Brad Peters.

For more information call 426-3980.

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Brad Peters

Music department

426-3900

Jim Jirak

Music department

426-4101

Pat Pyke

communications and marketing

(208) 426-1987

Editor’s note: Here are some facts about Richard Rodgers for the centennial salute.

ß Richard Rodgers was born in Long Island, New York onJune 28, 1902, and died in New York on Dec. 30, 1979.

ß He wrote more than1,000 songs and more than 40 Broadway musicals.

ß He started piano lessons at the age of 6 and hated them because he could already play almost anything by ear.

ß His parents would sing show tunes at home, with his mother playing the piano. His father was a doctor by trade and he and Mrs. Rodgers loved to have young Richard sing for their guests because his voice was so clear and accurate.

ß In 1910, when Rodgers was 8, his right index finger was disfigured by osteomyelitis. Dr. Berg, from Mount Sinai, made a new fingertip for him so he could play piano again.

ß His first copyrighted song (on his 15th birthday) was called "Auto Show Girl." He wrote his first complete musical-comedy score the following fall. It was called "One Minute, Please," it played only one night and the proceeds went to the American troops fighting overseas.

ß Rodgers studied music at Columbia University and the Institute of Musical Art, now known as the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

ß Before his first big musical theatre success, he was so discouraged he almost took a job as a babies’ underwear salesman for $50 a week.

ß The writing team of composer Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart began when the two met in 1918 and lasted until Hart’s death in 1943. Rodgers then teamed with Oscar Hammerstein II until Hammerstein’s death in 1960.

ß Rodgers wrote the music first and then Hart added the words. It was the other way around with Hammerstein. Rodgers did not like jazz musicians changing his songs in any way.