Some say jazz music is beneficial for the brain.
Studies suggest that listening to jazz can activate brain waves associated with relaxation, creativity and improved memory. It can also directly benefit students. The Border Jazz Orchestra will be presenting a Jazz Scholarship Benefit concert at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, at the Atkinson Recital Hall, 1075 Horseshoe St., NMSU campus.
The Border Jazz Orchestra is a professional jazz ensemble that is comprised of the region’s finest jazz musicians. Founded in 1991 by Pancho Romero, professor emeritus at New Mexico State University, the BJO has performed with many internationally recognized jazz musicians including Chris Vadala, John Fedchock, Hilary Smith, Bobby Shew, Clay Jenkins, Dana Landry, and Pete McGuinness.
Romero, a professional jazz musician and trumpet player, has performed around the world as a guest clinician and jazz solo artist. He founded the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra and the Bison Jazz Orchestra and currently performs in the BJO, NMSU Faculty Brass Quintet, Footprints Jazz Combo, Tres Amigos Brass Trio, El Paso Symphony and is musical director of the Mesilla Jazz and Blues Society. He has produced four albums featuring student performers that have received international acclaim.
Members of the ensemble, mostly jazz educators, have toured with jazz greats: The Glen Miller Band, Woody Herman, Airmen of Note, Wayne Newton, and Elvis. They have performed on stage with Richy Cole, Bill Watrous, Tia Fuller, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, the Sandy Hacket’s “Rat Pack” along with decades of jazz performances at jazz festivals and regional concerts.
The ensemble performs a variety of jazz music including the classic big band arrangements of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Stan Kenton, along with more contemporary compositions and arrangements of Fred Sturm, Gordon Goodwin, Patty Darling, Alan Baylock and Pete McGuinness.
The Jazz Scholarship Benefit concert is free, but attendees are encouraged to donate toward the Mesilla Valley Jazz and Blues Society Bob Burns/Helen Sachs Scholarship Fund, which has benefited dozens of aspiring young jazz musicians since its inception. Three of the scholarship recipients will be performing with the professional ensemble.
The concert will feature BJO’s own Jessika Brust and her trio “The Ivory Jazz Foxes” in Jessika’s own arrangements of WWII’s “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman.” The concert will also feature original arrangements by Bob Leatherman, Mike Tamaro and Mike Kamuf. In addition, Romero will be featured on an arrangement of “A Mis Abuelos” in dedication to all those mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers past and present on the eve of “Mother’s Day.”
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 575-644-1136.
