NC jazz orchestra hosts 5-set concert

The history of jazz was on display in Hill Hall Auditorium Tuesday night, with the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra splitting the genre into five sets.

Jim Ketch, the orchestra’s music director, co-founder, lead trumpeter and UNC music professor, devised the concert’s program.

“Fitting 100 years of jazz into one concert was a real challenge,” Ketch said.

But Ketch said he still managed to fit in some Dixieland, swing, music from Tin Pan Alley, bebop and modern jazz.

He said he wanted to provide the audience with a real sense of how this distinctly American art form has grown over the years.

Brian Braytenbah, a junior music major who performed with the ensemble, said playing a diverse set of music was different and exciting.

“It’s really a lot of fun playing such a variety of tunes,” Braytenbah said.

David Hartman, a former host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” narrated the concert and guided the audience through the concert’s program.

“He’s a huge jazz fan,” Ketch said. “It’s just so much fun having him involved.”

Ketch said Hartman lives in the area and is routinely involved in the Triangle’s art scene.

The reflective nature of the concert’s program commemorates the 100-year anniversary of jazz and the 20th anniversary of the orchestra.

“It’s a retrospective year for us,” Ketch said.

Ketch said the group was conceived after a New Year’s gig in 1993, when he and a few others decided to form a nonprofit jazz orchestra based in North Carolina.

Since then, the group has received accolades from Branford and Wynton Marsalis, David Baker and other jazz luminaries.

Evan Atherton, a student of Ketch’s who plays trumpet in the UNC Jazz Band, said he enjoys the orchestra for a variety of reasons.

“As a student at UNC, it is always great to have the (orchestra) play here,” Atherton said.

“The virtuosity of the performers and their knowledge of jazz history is always clearly evident in their performances, making them one of the best big bands around.”

Ketch said before the concert that it would come full circle by incorporating the music of a student musician, Jamnel Fields, from N.C. Central University.

“We’re going to close with this piece with the idea that you may think jazz is dead,” Ketch said.

“But there’s this whole world of students out there writing new music and keeping this thing alive.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.