Festival Jazz Ensemble

The Festival Jazz Ensemble, directed by Frederick Harris (fharris@mit.edu), performs a broad range of repertoire spanning the gamut of traditional and contemporary jazz styles. A major portion of music for the ensemble is comprised of original compositions and innovative arrangements of jazz classics written expressly for the group by student and professional composers. The Festival Jazz Ensemble presents three concerts each year and occasionally performs off campus in the Boston area. Rehearsals are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-7pm. The standard instrumentation is 5 trumpets, 4 trombones, 5 saxophones, piano, guitar or vibraphone, bass, and drums/percussion. Woodwind doubles in the saxophone section are often called for and experience in improvisation is preferred but not required for selection into the ensemble. Instruments such as French horns, double reeds, and strings are encouraged to participate and should see Frederick Harris if interested. All members of the Festival Jazz ensemble will have the opportunity to develop their improvisational skills and combos will be formed out of the large ensemble. Membership is by audition only. All interested MIT/Wellesley students are invited to audition during the first week of classes. May be taken for credit: 21M442.

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