The Gary McFarland Project

The American Jazz Institute Chamber Ensemble with guest soloist Gary Smulyan

Saturday
March 9, 8:00pm
Admission Free
Pickford Auditorium
CMC campus, Claremont

Gary McFarland (1933-1971) was one of the brightest young stars of the jazz scene in New York during the 1960s. Recognition of his talents came quickly after studying at The Lenox School of Jazz and The Berklee College of Music, where he met bandleader Herb Pomeroy and subsequently wrote a number of scores for Pomeroy's band.

Bob Brookmeyer has said that McFarland was "a complete original." In liner notes to the CD reissue of McFarland's Verve LP, How to Succeed in Business, Bill Kirchner writes that he was influenced by Ellington, Strayhorn and Gil Evans, and "though one can hear all of them in his writing, one primarily hears a musician with a very personal melodic gift and a unique sense of orchestral color and texture."

"The Gary McFarland Project" came to fruition after a conversation between barit tne saxophonist Gary Smulyan and AJI director Mark Masters. Ultimately, McFarland's most memorable compositions were arranged by Masters to feature Smulyan in front of the nine-piece AJI Chamber Ensemble.

Gary Smulyan is critically acclaimed as one of the major voices on the baritone saxophone. In 1978, Smulyan was invited to join Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. After two years with Herman, he moved back to New York and joined the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. He has performed and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Tom Harrell, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Bob Brookmeyer, Lou Rawls and many other major names. Smulyan has five CDs as a leader for the Criss Cross label (Holland).