About 21 years ago, The Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, under the directorship of Don Glasgo, began its tradition of honoring the graduating seniors in its annual Spring Concert. This Saturday evening at 8 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium, this tradition will continue as Jason Dominy '97, Alan Grubner '98, Tony Jurado '98, Sarah Snyder '98 and Onche Ugbabe '98 perform as featured soloists.
The Barbary Coast is the College's premier jazz ensemble and is the only musical group on campus that focuses one of its concerts around its seniors. For every Spring Concert the seniors choose the pieces that will be performed and then they "star" in the show.
Glasgo himself composed two of the pieces that will be performed: "Monarchs of the Sun," which is a big band piece, and "Atso" which is a piece that he composed for this year's seniors. "'Atso" is an acronym for the names of the seniors: Alan, Tony, Sarah and Onche. Never before has Glasgo written a piece for the seniors, but the tune for this piece came to him very quickly and only took him one day to compose.
Another one of the pieces, "Macita," was composed by Ugbabe. Ugbabe promised one of his friends that he would compose a piece for her and this promise was fulfilled in the form of "Macita." It will be performed on Saturday evening and will feature a saxophone, drums, piano, bass and Grubner on the violin.
Ugbabe, a double major in economics and music, is also a member of "Stand Up Eight" (the band formerly known as "Groove Merchant"). He will be playing the piano in this weekend's concert and has been with the Coast for two years. This past year he made the transition within the group from trombone to piano. Ugbabe, an extremely talented musician, has also done some directing outside of the group.
"If I can say one thing about the Coast," Ugbabe said, "it would be about Don Glasgo's leadership and the way that he allowed us all to develop musically within the group."
Grubner is a member of "Stand Up Eight" as well, and will be featured on the drums and the piano in this weekend's concert. He will be on the drums in the piece "Red Clay," by Freddie Hubbard, and will be playing the violin in Ugbabe's "Macita."
He has played in the Coast since his freshman year, and actually made the transition to jazz music when he came to Dartmouth. Throughout high school, "I played in various classical orchestras on the violin," he said. "But then I found jazz improv and that's what I'm doing now." He was recently accepted to a Master's Program in Jazz at The Berklee School of Music in Boston, but Grubner, a Music Minor, has decided to defer the offer to perform with his band, "Stand Up Eight."
Jurado, who is also a member of "Stand Up Eight," has played the alto and soprano saxophones in the Coast since his freshman year. "The Coast has meant a lot to me both musically and personally," he said. "Playing with other student musicians has really opened my mind to different musical styles." In this weekend's concert, he will be featured in "I Remember Clifford" by Benny Golson. After this year, he will continue his musical aspirations and said "as for my friendships, I'm taking those with me."
Snyder has played the alto sax in the Coast since her freshman year and will be featured in "The Samba Dubois" by Phil Woods. Glasgo described her as being "an important section leader since her freshman year."
Dominy will also be featured in this concert on the alto saxophone. He too, is described by Glasgo as being an important section leader and an accomplished musician.
For this concert, the seniors have chosen pieces that span numerous genres of music, however, many of the pieces reflect "senior" themes of love and departure. This Saturday the Coast will be performing everything from jazz swing tunes to funk tunes and everything in between.
