CHAMBER JAZZ SEXTET

Candid Recording(s):

Biography:

The Eighteenth Century musical historian Doctor Charles Burney described chamber music in 1805 as “compositiosn for a small concert room, a small band, and a small audience, opposed to music for the church, the theatre of a public concert room.” Within the parameters of that definition a great deal of jazz qualifies for the description chamber music and it was probably with this in mind that writer Allyn Ferguson called his group the Chamber Jazz Sextet.

Allyn Ferguson was born in San Jose, California, on October 18, 1924 and studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and with Aaron Copland at the Berkshire School, impressive credentials which helped him to take his ph.D at Stanford and to become a Professor of Music at that establishment. Like a number of amazingly talented Americans of his generation, he moved effortlessly between so many different branches of music. He conducted a symphony orchnestra for rour years, wrote and conducted Johnny Mathis and the King Sisters, wrote for television and composed jingles for commercial radio. He also squeezed in work with the Chamber Jazz Sextet.

The Chamber Jazz Sextet obviously catered for the listener who appreciated a deft blending of writing an improvising skills and it contained a number of up and coming young men as well as a couple of seasoned professions.

For ‘Plays Pal Joey’ Ferguson scored six of the pieces, calling in Bill Holman ro arrange ‘Lady is a tramp’ and ‘I Could Write A Book.’

Dent Hand - Trumpet, Bass Frank Leal – Alto Modesto Briseno – Clarinet, Tenor, Baritone Allyn Ferguson – French horn, Piano, Arranger Fred Dutton – Bass, Bassoon Tom Reynolds – Drums Bill Holman – Arranger