Tickets are available and cost $30 each.
“We can’t wait to get back at it, bringing many people together to listen to some great music,” said Todd Stoll, SSJO director.
Stoll said a common knowledge of jazz comes from the formation of bebop, which was considered a rebellion against the big bands that resulted in musical and social changes in the mid-1940s in New York, where legally mixed clubs saw Black and White audiences together to hear the music led by Gillespie and Parker as they became the next generation of jazz.
“They were absolute geniuses of composition and improvisation,” Stoll said. “They were technical virtuosos, playing faster, louder, more complicated pieces and it’s possibly the most difficult music to play. It’s been compared to changing a fan belt on a car while it’s running. You have to move fast and be careful.”
He confessed the intricacy of these songs means rehearsals are difficult, but the hard work will result in a fun concert.
Songs will include “Cherokee,” a song written for Parker, along with others of the era by Tadd Dameron, Quincy Jones when he was a young performer, and Billy Eckstein. Parker will do Gillespie’s numbers on trumpet.
The SSJO core remains intact and boasts three generations of musicians, ranging in age from 24-70, of different races, genders and creeds.
“The consistency of the personnel is a treat,” Stoll said. “There are members who were my students when I was a teacher, friends, colleagues. There’s a familial vibe to it and people have noticed. And we’re lucky for our audiences as we’ve gotten more and more support.”
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The SSJO will be back for its annual free holiday concert on Dec. 14 at Mother Stewart’s Brewing Co. and a week later for the ticketed Red Hot Holiday Jazz Stomp; the date and location for the Jazz Stomp will be announced at a later time.
The group will perform its final show of the season on March 22 with “Hammer Time: A Swingin’ Retrospective with Jeff Hamilton,” with the Grammy-nominated musician who played some of jazz’s greats.
For more information on the shows or the SSJO, go to springfieldsym.org/ssjo.
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