Ray Noble, Cherokee

At the conferences this year I heard quite a few comments from people who read this series every week. I appreciate the feedback, and of course it’s nice to know that people enjoy it.

I had a rather lengthy conversation with one person in particular, an adult who was looking for suggestions on how he could get through more repertoire in a more organized way. I encourage people not to try to cover too much ground. It’s more rewarding, I think, to become very familiar with fewer pieces than to skim through numerous works. I suggested that he expand his repertoire gradually based giving some serious thought to what he likes and why.

It turns out what he liked most in this series was Sing Sing Sing, but he didn’t know much about Big Band music. So looking into that genre seems like a logical next step.

Big Band music has a very loyal following, but there aren’t many big bands around these days. They require quite a few very accomplished players, and that makes them expensive. Fortunately, there are some programs that teach and promote this music such as The University of North Texas with its One O’Clock Lab Band.

Cherokee was written in 1938 by the British band leader Ray Noble. It became a jazz standard closely associated with the development of bebop and the improvisational style championed by Charlie Parker.

Joining the lab band for this performance is Sean Jones who has had a significant career in the American jazz scene. Jones heads the brass department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, another school that has taken the lead in teaching jazz an other forms of contemporary music.