Dr. Jim Payne
Jazz Rock Ensemble director, 308.865.8606
Four University of Nebraska at Kearney Jazz Rock Ensemble alumni will be featured performers at the 7:30 p.m. Jazz Rock Ensemble concert Thursday, Dec. 3, on the campus.
The four, who now perform together as the band “The Innocents,” include Greg Sales, Dave Lerbakken, Luke Oswald and Spencer Hansen. The group plays pop rock music from the ’70s and ’80s. As part of their performance, they will play two Dave Weckl compositions arranged by Dr. Jim Payne, Jazz Rock Ensemble director.
“These four extraordinary musicians will display their talent as a quartet, then as they rhythm section for the band as we play two exciting jazz fusion charts,” Dr. Payne said.
The Jazz Rock Ensemble will present a concert of big band sounds, with works from the swing era to newer charts of the big bands of the present. In addition, they will perform jazz pieces styled in several types of swing, Latin, rock, jazz rock fusion, contemporary jazz, ballad and funk.
The music will come from the libraries of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Jan Savitt Orchestra, Bob Mintszer Big Band, and the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, with tunes written by Pat Metheny, and Fred Sturm, Les Hooper and Dave Weckl.
The concert, which will feature solos by piano, guitar, alto and tenor saxophone, trumpet, trombone and drums, is free and open to the public. Membership in the Jazz Rock Ensemble is through competitive audition.
Jazz Rock Ensemble members, and the instruments they play, are listed below, alphabetically by hometown:
Amherst – Chris Gugel, alto saxophone
Arcadia – Robert Roth, trumpet
Aurora – Ashley Lawton, trumpet
Beatrice – Troy Ehmke, tenor saxophone
Cozad – Andee Bubak, trumpet
Fremont – Amber Clary, tenor saxophone; Josh Steager, trumpet
Gering – David Kelley, bass
Grand Island – Ted Fattig, guitar; Ryne Miller, baritone saxophone; and Eric Rempe, trombone
Holdrege – Eric Jones, drums
Kearney – Tyler Allen, trombone and bass; Paul Niedbalski, trombone
Lexington – Dayvid Cardenas, drums and bass; Joel Montes, drums
Lincoln – Paul Ewalt, piano
Minden – Will Gleason, trumpet
Newport – Cameron Scheibe, trombone
O’Neill – Jordan Peterson
Osmond – Clint Dennis, trombone
Michigan
Southfield – Anthony Ford, tenor saxophone
