Ripon College Jazz Ensemble performs Dec. 12

The Ripon College Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Professor Kurt Dietrich, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12 in Demmer Recital Hall, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts, on the campus. Admission is free and open to the public.

The ensemble will play big band works from a variety of sources — the libraries of Stan Kenton, of the Tonight Show Orchestra when Johnny Carson hosted; the Count Basie band; and works by jazz great Charles Mingus. Also featured will be two works by the late Fred Sturm of Lawrence University, a composer who wrote many pieces performed by the Ripon band during the last 15 years. One of these, “Linebacker,” was written in honor of Green Bay Packers great Ray Nitschke.

A new arrangement by Paul Dietrich, written expressly for the Ripon College Jazz Ensemble, is of a funk tune by the Neville Brothers of New Orleans.

The jazz improvisation group will perform works by Wayne Shorter and Cannonball Adderley.

Members of the group include: Mitchell Eithun ’17 of New London, Wisconsin; Ben Hollander ’15 of Lake Forest, Illinois; Jacob Tazelaar ’17 of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Tanner McCarthy ’17 of Waukesha, Wisconsin; Peter Crowell ’15 of Chicago, Illinois; Jeremiah Hargis ’15 of Elgin, Illinois; Lucas Henningsen ’15 of Rice Lake, Wisconsin; Angela Pamperin ’17 of West Bend, Wisconsin; Margaret Goodwin ’18 of Port Washington, Wisconsin; Nay Htet ’17 of Myanmar; Ollie Voegeli ’15 of Stillwater, Minnesota; Ben Paulson ’15 of Ripon, Wisconsin; Christian Calkins ’17 of Gloucester, Virginia.

Community members are Erik Dietrich, David Garcia and Steve Yeomans of Ripon, Wisconsin; Sam Olsen of Berlin, Wisconsin; Ben Ruetten ’07 of Oshkosh, Wisconsin; and Kyle Crombie ’13 of Columbus, Wisconsin. Geoff Guevara-Geer, a member of the College faculty, plays in the Improvisation group.