WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — What does the chick flick “When Harry Met Sally” have in common with the animated feature “The Incredibles?” Both films use jazz to tell their stories.

West Side Story's 'Somewhere' didn't start out as a jazz tune, but the Roger Holmes arrangement takes it there.

For movie lovers, the first concert of the jazz season for Purdue’s American Music Repertory Ensemble, Lab Jazz Band and Jazz Choir, “Jazz from the Movies,” is filled with musical nuggets from these and other classic films. It is set for 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in Loeb Playhouse of the Purdue Stewart Center. Admission is free.

“Usually jazz is used to create the feeling of an urban setting or a shady, back alley atmosphere,” says director M.T. “Mo” Trout. “But this concert focuses on jazz used in positive ways and, in some cases, unique ways.”

The range of movie titles being tackled by the bands runs the gamut from Johnny Mandel’s Academy Award-winning “The Shadow of Your Smile” to Disney’s “Mickey Mouse March,” and from West Side Story’s “Somewhere” to The Polar Express’ “Hot Chocolate.”

Clint Eastwood, a jazz musician himself, experiments widely with jazz in his movies, and the concert recognizes his efforts with “Play Misty for Me” from the film by that name. Woody Allen, who plays clarinet in a Dixieland Band, also uses jazz to underscore his offbeat characters. The American Music Repertory Ensemble performs “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me” from Allen’s “Anything Else.”

“Jazz has made use of music from lots of Broadway musicals,” Trout says.

West Side Story’s “Somewhere” didn’t start out as a jazz tune, but the Roger Holmes arrangement takes it there. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz “has been taken over by jazz musicians and is now considered a jazz standard,” he adds.

“Henry Mancini has written many great sound tracks, and they’re all jazz influenced,” Trout adds. “The Pink Panther” might be Mancini’s best known music, but Trout opts to present Mancini’s first foray into jazz with the theme from the TV series ‘Peter Gunn.’ After that jazz became forever associated with private eyes and James Bond characters.”

Jazz also surfaces in biographical movies, and that’s explored in “Straight No Chaser” from Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser and “Beyond the Sea” from the film about singer Bobby Darrin.

Probably the most unique use of jazz in a film comes in Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles,” where a desert caravan comes across the Count Basie Band playing big band jazz in the middle of nowhere. In honor of that classic screen moment, the concert comes to a close with the American Music Repertory Ensemble playing Vernon Duke and E.Y. Harburg’s 1932 classic “April in Paris.”

“Music from the Movies” is presented by Purdue Bands & Orchestras. For more information on upcoming events visit www.purdue.edu/bands

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Greater Lafayette, Indiana’s annual “Stars & Stripes” Fourth of July concert and fireworks display at Purdue University’s Slayter Center for the Performing Arts will once again feature the Lafayette Citizen’s Band, the Greater Lafayette Freedom Singers, the Purdue Summer Jazz Band and the Tippecanoe Ancient Fife and Drum Corps. Music begins at 7:00pm and will end around 10:00pm, to be followed by the 25 minute fireworks display.

The evening’s musical festivities begin with the Purdue Summer Jazz Band, under the direction of Mo Trout, beginning at 7:00pm. The Lafayette Citizen’s Band, conducted by William D. Kisinger, follows at 8:00pm with the Greater Lafayette Freedom Singers, directed by Eric VanCleave.

The Lafayette Citizen’s Band and the Freedom Singers honor the armed forces with the “Armed Forces Salute”. Other selections will include “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “God Bless America” featuring vocal soloist Twanna Harris. Dustin Hopkins, vocal soloist, will perform his rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “The Summer Wind”. And finally, a rousing performance of Hail Purdue.

The Tippecanoe Ancient Fife and Drums Corps will perform during the intermission.

Stars and Stripes festivites, parking and campus map. Click to download PDF version.

VIP and Reserved Priority Parking

Priority parking spaces await those who purchase VIP Parking passes. The $20.00 passes guarantee convenient parking to Slayter Center. The lots open at 5:00pm and the passes will be honored until 8:00pm. The entrance to the VIP lots is via N. Martin Jischke Drive in West Lafayette. The reserved lots are also granted priority egress after the concert.

VIP parking passes are available beginning Wednesday, June 24th at all locations of Lafayette Bank & Trust and Regions Bank, Lafayette City Hall Clerk’s Office and the West Lafayette City Hall Mayor’s Office.

Tickets are also available at the following Pay Less Super Market locations:

• 65 Beck Lane, Lafayette
• 2200 Greenbush, Lafayette
• 2513 Maple Point Drive, Lafayette
• 1032 Sagamore Parkway West, West Lafayette

General Information

Parking is available at the Ross-Ade Stadium parking lots, Northwestern and University parking garages, and Intramural Field. Parking is prohibited along McCormick Road and Cherry Lane — violators will be towed. Handicap-accessible parking locations are available off of N. Martin Jischke Drive. Purdue officials will provide convenient exits for all, but urge motorists to have patience when trying to leave the campus area.

Smoking, pets, personal fireworks and alcoholic beverages are prohibited. An information booth will be located on the south side of Slayter Center for lost children and other event information.

Mullen’s Family Concessions will be located in the immediate vicinity of Slayter Center and concert goers are urged to bring their own seating.

There is no rain date scheduled for the 2009 Greater Lafayette Stars & Stripes celebration.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Some 700 student performers will take the stage during a series of four concerts Friday through Sunday (April 24-26) at Purdue University.

All four concerts are free and open to the public.

The first concert is an 8 p.m. Friday (April 24) show featuring the Purdue Symphonic and Concert bands at Elliott Hall of Music. Two more concerts will be offered at Elliott Hall of Music on Saturday (April 25), including a 6 p.m. performance featuring the Purdue Philharmonic and Symphony orchestras and an 8 p.m. show highlighting the University and Collegiate Concert bands. The weekend’s final performance is Jazz on the Hill at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (April 26) at Slayter Center of Performing Arts.

The weekend's events will serve as a finale of the 2008-09 performing season for Purdue Bands & Orchestra.

The ensembles will perform a variety of styles including classical, street music, Latin and jazz, with some groups emphasizing music written by contemporary composer Roger Cichy. He will be on hand to work with a few of the groups and conduct a number of his own compositions. Some of the Cichy pieces the bands will tackle include “Bugs,” “Colours,” “Reliance,” “T-Rex” and “Interpretations.”

The Jazz on the Hill concert will pay tribute to jazz composer Stan Kenton, with performances by the Purdue Jazz Band, American Music Repertory Ensemble, Lab Jazz Band, Concert Jazz Band and the Jazz Conception Ensemble. The show will be outdoors, and attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs for comfortable seating.

The weekend’s events will serve as a finale of the 2008-09 performing season for Purdue Bands & Orchestra.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue Jazz Festival will open with a tribute to Charles Mingus, an important figure in 20th century American music, by the 14-member Mingus Big Band at 8 p.m. Jan. 16 in Purdue Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse.

The performance is presented by Purdue Convocations as part of the Purdue Jazz Festival, Convocations’ annual collaboration with Purdue University Bands. The festival, which runs Jan. 15-18, brings more than 2,000 middle and high school students to campus for clinics and concerts with noted jazz artists and clinicians.

The Mingus Big Band kicks off the 2009 Purdue Jazz Festival on January 16

The performance, titled “50th Anniversary Performance: Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots,” commemorates the release of two well-known Mingus albums. The recordings reveal Mingus as a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer who infused the conventional big band sound of the 1950s and ’60s with avant-garde techniques, idiosyncratic rhythms and a sense of humor, said Abby Eddy, director of marketing for Purdue Convocations.

Keeping his music alive in a weekly set at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, the Mingus Big Band features a roster of New York musicians who impart a sense of joy in Mingus’s already spirited music, Eddy said. The group last performed at Purdue in 1999 to a sold-out crowd.

The concert will follow a pre-show discussion by Don Seybold, a jazz expert and former associate director of Convocations, who will speak about Mingus’s legacy, his albums and the band’s approach to propelling his music into the future. The discussion will get under way at 7 p.m. in Purdue Memorial Union, Room 118.

An autograph session with the artists will immediately follow the performance in the Stewart Center West Lobby.

Tickets are $30 for adults and $22 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more can be ordered at (765) 496-1977.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Here is a list of events happening April 14-20 at the Purdue University West Lafayette campus.

All week

• Through April 20. “Autotelematic Spider Bots.” Stewart Center Gallery. Made by artist Ken Rinaldo, an associate professor of art and technology at Ohio State University, the Spider Bots are five spider-like sculptures that interact with the public in real-time and self-modify their behaviors based on their interaction with the viewer, themselves and their environment. They will function for 15-minute periods at 10:30 a.m. and at 12:30, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. daily. Sponsored by Purdue Galleries. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday, plus Thursday until 8 p.m., and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

• Through April 20. “Machinic Drift.” Robert L. Ringel Gallery in the Purdue Memorial Union. Various interactive works and imagery by artist Ken Rinaldo, including robotic fish and electronic sound work sculptures. Sponsored by Purdue Galleries. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday, plus Thursday until 8 p.m., and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

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