Jazz Ensemble & Combos
The Vassar College Jazz Ensemble, founded by its conductor James Osborn in 1984, is a twenty-two piece ensemble of student musicians playing saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano, double bass, guitar, and drums; vocalists are often featured as well. The Jazz Ensemble performs literature ranging from the Big Band Era to jazz-rock fusion. It usually performs two concerts per year in the Martel Recital Hall, as well as playing for dances and other concerts on the Vassar campus and in the local community. The Jazz Ensemble is frequently joined by faculty jazz musicians in highly successful collaborative concerts. Open to all students by audition, the Vassar College Jazz Ensemble rehearses once a week.
In 2006 Mr. Osborn started the Jazz Combo program, which offers students the opportunity to play in smaller ensembles with a strong focus on jazz improvisation. The Jazz Combos give students at beginning as well as advanced levels the chance to explore jazz idioms in an intimate group.
A recent program that combined the Vassar College Jazz Ensemble with Faculty and Student Jazz Combos featured works by Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael & Mitch Parish, Consuelo Velazquez & Rafael Hernandez, and Thelonius Monk.