Jim Carroll, alto sax virtuoso and director of jazz studies at George Mason University, founded the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra to recreate the spontaneous enthusiasm that raged throughout the big band era. To guarantee authenticity, he recruited professional musicians from the Washington area who are either veterans or students of those decades in American music history when everyone danced to music from the bandstand.
During his career, Carroll has played in major venues, including Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, the White House and the Apollo Theater. He was a member of Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd for a number of years and has worked with such artists as Michael Jackson, Nancy Wilson, Maynard Ferguson and Billy Taylor. A charter member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, he performed with them until joining the GMU faculty.
MJO features saxophonists Charlie Young, Marty Nau and Lois Hernandez, while the all-star rhythm section includes Grammy winner Joe McCarthy on drums, Rick Whitehead on guitar and Wade Beach on piano. Liesl Whitaker is lead trumpet, Kenny Rittenhouse plays jazz trumpet and Ben Patterson and Matt Niess are on trombone.
| Onstage |
| Jim Carroll conducts the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra |
| Where: George Mason University Center for the Arts |
| When: 8 p.m. Saturday; Pre-performance discussion 7:15 p.m. |
| Info: $20 to $40; family friendly, tickets half price youth through grade 12; 888-945-2468; cfa.gmu.edu |
“These musicians and our program represent this country’s bi-coastal culture when bands traveled from coast to coast by bus to play in large theaters or small rooms, wherever they were wanted, ” Carroll said. “Long before baseball and other sports were integrated, musicians got together in jam sessions and big bands quickly discovered and hired the best musicians. Young and old alike were captivated by the rhythmic beat and the danceable music. Folks who grew up listening to big bands still love both the upbeat and slow numbers and the memories they hold. For this program, we celebrate the legacy of three great bandleaders: Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and Stan Kenton.”
Billed as the world’s greatest drummer, Buddy Rich played with nearly every major band, among them Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and Harry James, until forming his own band in 1966. Some of his recordings feature Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson. The MJO will play Rich’s popular arrangement of a medley from Bernstein’s “West Side Story” along with his interpretation of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale.”
“The reason I have this orchestra is to put together the pieces of big bands for their cultural significance,” Carroll said. “That era is so important in American music that I’m shocked our schools don’t include it in music studies. When I ask today’s grade or high school students who Beethoven is, they all know, but they never heard of the bands that were so important to our society in the 20th century.
“Last year, I took my GMU concert band to China. While there, we presented a mini jazz history. The Chinese students could not get enough of big band music. They treated my students like rock stars. …”
