Puente lends spice to UNL Jazz Festival
Professor uses weekend as recruiting tool
By Barb Churchill
Assignment Reporter
Fourteen all-star high school jazz
performers from four states have
been invited to perform in this week
end’s University of Nebraska
Lincoln Jazz Festival.
Rusty White, assistant professor
of double bass and jazz performance,
said there were at least 25 performers
- from as far away as Alabama and as
near as Nebraska - who auditioned to
be included in the jazz festival.
Only high school juniors and
seniors are allowed to try out, and
more auditioned for the festival this
year than last, White said. This is the
second year for the jazz festival in
this format.
“What the students will experi
ence is playing with a group of other
students that are at their own ability
level,” he said. “Whenever you have
an all-star group, the students are
going to play better.”
Before last year, the UNL Jazz
Festival had been a competitive event
featuring many area high school jazz
ensembles and had been run by Dave
Sharp, director of UNL's jazz pro
gram. White had nothing but praise
for Sharp’s efforts, but said he
thought the festival needed to go in a
different direction in order to work as
a recruitment tool for the UNL
School of Music.
White was looking forward to the
students working with famous Latin
percussionist Tito Puente.
“For the last couple years, we’ve
tried to couple one of the jazz artists
appearing at the Lied Center with a
stipulation that said artist would per
form a master class with our jazz stu
dents,” White said.
Last year’s master class was held
by bassist Christian McBride and
tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano.
Puente’s master class will start at
5 p.m. on Saturday in 119 Westbrook
Music Building with his concert
immediately following at 8 p.m. in
the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
White has been working hard to
put the University of Nebraska
Lincoln Jazz Festival Band and affil
iated Small Group concert together
this weekend.
White, explaining how important
the small group concept is, said:
“One of the essential ingredients of
jazz is improvisation, and that just
happens more in a small group set
ting.
“Improvisational sections are few
in most big bands, so fewer musi
cians get a chance to improvise when
they play with a big band. Whereas,
in a small group, not improvising is
almost unheard of.”
The Jazz Festival band concert is
Sunday at 3 p.m. in Kimball Recital
Hall. Admission is free.
By Andrew Washburn
Staff Reporter
Things move pretty fast in New York, espe
cially if you’re a businessman, CEO, speaker
and musician all rolled into one.
On a five-week tour of the Midwest, New
York-based concert pianist Justin Kolb will be
in Lincoln this weekend in association with the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of
Music and Lincoln’s Home Concert
Association.
Kolb will perform a free recital tonight at 8
in 119 Westbrook Music Building. Selections
Please see PIANIST on 9
World-class percussionist
featured in Lied concert
From Staff Reports
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln Jazz Festival would go on
without Tito Puente, but it would
n’t be nearly as good.
The same can be said for the
world of jazz.
For more than 50 years, Latin
jazz percussionist Puente has
been pounding the skins for ador
ing audiences, and Saturday night
he will do the same at the Lied
Center for Performing Arts.
Along with his Latin Jazz
Ensemble, Puente performs a
fiery form of jazz that has been
dubbed “salsa” - although Puente
dislikes the term - around the
world.
BMEil
OTPKT*1 -J
Puente has more than 100
recording credits, and his original
compositions are as revered in
jazz circles as his energetic per
formances.
Puente and his Latin Jazz
Ensemble will take the Lied
Center stage at 8 p.m. Tickets for
the performance are $24, $20 and
$16, half-price for students.
David Sharp, director of
UNL’s jazz program, will give two
pre-performance talks in the Lied
Center’s Steinhart Room. The
talks will take place 55 minutes
and 30 minutes prior to curtain.
■) ImmWm
Courtesy Photo
REVEREND HORTON HEAT (center) is backed onstage by his trusty side
kicks, drummer Scott Churilla (left) and bassist Jimbo Wallace (right).
Ranch Bowl braces for
atypical reverend’s arrival
By Jim Zavodny
Music Critic
A well-known reverend will make an appearance in the area on
Sunday to preach about booze, drugs and women.
His sermons don’t concern traditional religious topics, and he is
certainly not in the league of Jimmy Swaggart or Billy Graham.
He is the Reverend Horton Heat, and those planning on attend
ing his show at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha better wear their dancing
shoes because this guy can wail on the guitar. Tickets for the 21 -and
over show are $12.50 in advance and $14 the day of the show.
Just as talented are his band mates, stand-up bassist Jimbo
Wallace and drummer Scott Churilla, who help the Reverend craft a
unique mix of rockabilly, rock and country, or “psychobilly” as they
like to refer to it.
Joining the reverend at the Ranch Bowl will be ska artist Let’s Go
Bowling, who will play six shows in seven days in February with the
Reverend at venues in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. LGB’s
last performance in Omaha came in the summer of 1997, when they
played for a crowd of boisterous skankers at the Cog Factory.
This will be the Reverend’s fourth trip to the area in a little more
than a year, with the last two shows played at the Westfair
Amphitheater in Council Bluffs and Lincoln’s Royal Grove.
Please see REVEREND on 9
