Dave Grusin & Friends in Concert with the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra November 9, 2012

The 67-member Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (SJO), the only ensemble of its kind in the country, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a special concert featuring Academy and Grammy Award winning composer, arranger and pianist, Dave Grusin on Friday evening, November 9, 2012, 8:00 p.m., at Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College Center for the Arts in Torrance. Grusin has composed for such films as Fabulous Baker Boys, Havana, On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Milagro Beanfield War and Heaven Can Wait.

Making a rare Los Angeles area appearance, Grusin will perform with an all-star rhythm section for the first half of the concert, followed by the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra and conductor Mitch Glickman joining Grusin to perform selections from his illustrious career. The concert closes with the world premiere of “Symphonic Captain’s Journey” by Grammy Award winning guitarist and composer Lee Ritenour. This new work is a commission of the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra and supported in part by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation.

The SJO, led by Music Directors George Duke and Mitch Glickman, is comprised of Los Angeles’ finest jazz soloists and studio musicians. Since 2002, the SJO has commissioned and premiered seven new symphonic jazz works and performed 6 world premieres. The orchestra has also served over 28,500 young people and their families through its Community Outreach Program, presenting free educational and family concerts, school assemblies, residencies, master classes and workshops throughout underserved areas of Los Angeles County. The SJO has twice been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the prestigious James Irvine Foundation, Music Performance Fund, Ella Fitzgerald Foundation, Herb Alpert Foundation, Fineshriber Family Foundation, California Arts Council Youth Education in the Arts program, Los Angeles Philanthropic Committee for the Arts (LAPCA), city and county funders, and individual donors. Sponsors of the SJO Concert with Dave Grusin include SoCal PBS, KJazz 88.1 FM and the Daily Breeze.

“What a great way to celebrate our 10th anniversary with a concert featuring Dave Grusin and an all-star rhythm section joining the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. We’re even rolling back our ticket prices so that everyone can join us. Only $39 - the same price as our debut concert 10 year ago!" Glickman remarked.

With a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the SJO will also present a special free Educational Concert for local elementary school students in partnership with a number of community groups including the I Have a Dream Foundation. Students from the Watts, Lennox, Lawndale and Culver City school districts will be able to share in this unique concert experience, many for the very first time.

Prior to the free Educational Concert, members of the SJO will go out into the schools and after-school programs to present a number of workshops and assemblies. Students learn about the instruments of the orchestra, the language of jazz, improvisation, along with concert etiquette.

In addition, the SJO has been named an official arts provider by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and its school residency programs are available to all Arts for All school districts throughout Los Angeles County. These programs are in addition to our ongoing partnerships with such community groups as The World Stage in South-Central Los Angeles and the Harmony Project in Hollywood.

Over the last ten years, the SJO has built a network of community partners in underserved areas across Los Angeles including the Latino Arts Initiative, Harmony Project, World Stage, Guadalupe Youth Center, 2nd Call Gang Prevention, and ADAGE After-School program. With its newest community partner, the I Have a Dream Foundation, the free Educational Concert audience will also include students from the Watts area of Los Angeles.

The orchestra’s goal with this project is to provide a unique concert opportunity, at no cost, for young people across the underserved areas in the Los Angeles community. By partnering with El Camino College, the SJO is able to provide both a jazz and orchestral experience to an audience that does not often have these opportunities. The free concert offers elementary school students a special artistic, cultural, educational, and social experience. Featured on the program will be the world premiere of a new work composed by Grammy Award winning guitarist Lee Ritenour, commissioned by the SJO. Other pieces on the program are especially written for the young audience in a fun and interactive manner.

Musically, the SJO outreach programs broaden a students’ view of music – and the possibilities for music. As the only orchestra of its kind in the country that blends the jazz and classical worlds, the students are exposed to both these rich traditions, often for the first time. And by showing how a violin can play jazz or a saxophone can play classical music, the analogy that we present is that anything is possible, in music and in life.
The SJO’s unique repertoire is a blending of two musical worlds, jazz and classical. The social message the orchestra represents is the successful mixture of traditional and contemporary influences, blending diverse styles and cultures to create something new. The audience sees that any instrument can play in any style of music, and that we are not tied by our history, but by our future.

Tickets to the SJO Concert with Dave Grusin and Friends are $39.00 per person and a very limited number of $100 VIP tickets are also available which include preferred seating, post-concert VIP reception with the artists and a CD (one per couple). Tickets can be purchased by phone at (310) 329.5345 or online at www.centerforthearts.org. There is a $2.00 phone order or $3.00 online fee and parking is available for $2.00. Marsee Auditorium is located on the south side of the El Camino College campus on Redondo Beach Blvd., just east of the 405 freeway. For additional information, please visit www.SJOmusic.org or call (310) 876-8130.

Dave Grusin, the Academy and Grammy award winning performer, producer, composer, record label executive, arranger, and bandleader. He was the assistant music director and pianist for Andy Williams from 1959 to 1966, and then started his television composing career. Grusin did arrangements and recorded with Sarah Vaughan, Quincy Jones, and Carmen McRae in the early '70s and played electric keyboards with Gerry Mulligan and Lee Ritenour, He then helped to establish GRP Records out of a production company, which developed into one of the top contemporary jazz and fusion label. Grusin continued recording through the '80s and '90s, doing numerous projects, from fusion and pop to working with symphony orchestras. He has also conducted the GRP Big Band, scored such films as The Fabulous Baker Boys, and performed duet sessions with his brother, Don, and Ritenour.

About the SJO
The 67-member professional Symphonic Jazz Orchestra is the only organization of its kind in the country with a mission to: Inspire the next generation of listeners through specially designed Family Concerts and its Community Outreach Program; Commission symphonic jazz compositions, a musical genre that blends the American language of jazz with European orchestral traditions; Perform commissioned works in concerts throughout Southern California. Since 2002, the SJO has served over 27,500 young people and their families through free concerts, assemblies, workshops and music residencies across Los Angeles County.

Official Website: http://www.sjomusic.org