Williams Jazz Ensemble with Lew Tabackin
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Williams College Department of Music presents the Williams Jazz Ensemble with special guest artist Lew Tabackin on Friday, March 6, at 8 p.m. in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus. This free event is open to the public.The Williams Jazz Ensemble and Music Department are saddened by the death of David "Fathead" Newman. David was scheduled to perform as a guest with the ensemble. This is a great loss to the world of music and the world in general. The concert will be dedicated to the memory of him and his legacy.
Lew Tabackin will join the ensemble under the direction of Erik Lawrence. Tabackin, flutist and tenor saxophonist, is an artist of astonishing vision. His electrifying flute playing is at once virtuosic, primordial, cross-cultural, and passionate. His distinctive tenor sax style includes the use of wide intervals, abrupt changes of mood and tempo, and purposeful fervor, all in the service of showing the full range of possibilities of his instrument - melodically, rhythmically, and dynamically. Without copying or emulating jazz greats of the past, Mr. Tabackin has absorbed elements into his style, ultimately creating his own sound and aura.
The flagship Williams Jazz Ensemble (big band) plays formal concerts on campus, and also travels each year, with performances ranging from the Boston area to New York as well as throughout the Western Mass. region. In January of '08 the Ensemble was in residence at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico.
