The Northwestern State University Jazz Orchestra will present a concert Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. Galindo Rodriguez will direct the orchestra. Coordinator of the Department of Music and Associate Professor of Clarinet Dr. Malena McLaren is the guest artist.
The orchestra will perform Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” arranged by Pete Meyers with Kenyon Johnson of DeRidder on tenor saxophone and Lave Clevenger of Bush on trumpet, “Fascinating Rhythm” by Ira and George Gershwin and arranged by Sammy Nestico and featuring Johnson, “Cute” by Neil Hefti featuring Addison Pelegrino of Burleson, Texas, on drums and Darius Williams of Fort Worth, Texas, on vibes and “Let’s Dance” by Gregory Stone featuring McLaren.
Also on the program are “Secret Love” by Paul Francis Webster and Sammy Fain and arranged by Dave Wolpe featuring the trombone section. Vocalist Abigail Hoy of Juneau, Alaska, will perform with the orchestra on “When I Fall in Love” by Edward Hayman and Victor Young and arranged by Jerry Nowak and “Every Day I Have the Blues” by Peter Chatman and arranged by Roger Holmes. The concert will conclude with “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Louis Prima and arranged by Mike Lewis featuring Pelegrino on the drum set and Nathan Roth of Luling on trumpet.
Members of the Jazz Orchestra are Jack Salyer of Duncanville, Texas, Jordan Davis of Shreveport, Johnson, Laura Lovell of West Monroe and Jack Dyre of Canton, Texas on saxophone, Michael Dailey of West Monroe, Michael King of Deville, Jacob St. Pierre of LaPlace and Aaron Martin of Natchitoches on trombone.
The orchestra also includes, Roth, Clevenger and Francisco B. Sayas, Sebastian A. Fontalvo and Sadoc S. Calderon of Cartagena, Colombia, on trumpet, Ronald Rodriguez of Cartagena, Colombia, and James Armstrong of Natchitoches on piano, Jon Colon of Cartagena, Colombia, Hoy and Ricky Ventura of San Paolo, Honduras on bass, Williams on vibes, Pelegrino on drums and Juan Sierra of Cartagena, Colombia, on Latin percussion.
McLaren received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the University of New Mexico and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas. As a member of Trio de Llano, she has performed throughout the US, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, England and Canada. She also plays frequently with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra. In July 2007, McLaren received the second place prize in the ICA Research Presentation Competition at the ClarinetFest in Vancouver, Canada. She has performed solo recitals at the 2008, 2010, and 2012 International ClarinetFest conferences and as a member of Trio de Llano at the 2009 National Flute Association Conference in New York City and the 2011 ClarinetFest. Most recently, McLaren received an endowed professorship to perform and continue research in Madrid, Spain.
