Join the PTJO for a Special Concert Presentation on Sunday, March 26

The PTJO is proud and honored to present a world premiere performance of an original work by Artistic Director Chad Eby on Sunday, March 26, 2017 at 8:00PM, at the UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts Recital Hall.

"The Sweet Shel Suite," originally composed for jazz quartet, is Chad Eby's musical homage to poet and author, Shel Silverstein.  The suite consists of nine movements, each named for a favorite poem.  Scroll down to read Chad's personal take on this monumental work.

We'll feature all of our band members, including the addition of guitarist Aaron Matson and pianist Ariel Pocock, joining the PTJO for the first time. These two prodigious musicians will amaze you! We will also feature The Railyard Quartet, a remarkable string quartet that adapts to any musical genre with surprising nimbleness and dexterity. They are Rebecca Willie and Naiara Sanchez on violin, Noah Hock on viola, and Brian Careter on cello. These four folks are rockstars! All in all, we'll have 21 musicians on board, playing from the heart, and bringing Chad's opus to life. You certainly don't want to miss this world premiere opportunity.

- Tickets to this special concert presentation are $15.00 General Admission and $10.00 Students, Senior and Military. Tickets are available online only through Brown Paper Tickets, with the direct link here:

http://ptjo.bpt.me

- Directions to UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts Building are here:

UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts Building

- Parking is available in the McIver Parking Deck, adjacent to the UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts Building. And just for this special occasion, the PTJO is picking up the tab - yes, parking for this event will be FREE in the McIver Parking Deck.

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We'll update you soon via our newsletter about more upcoming concerts.  As always, please visit our website for the most up to the minute additions to our performance calendar.

If you're interested in having us perform for you, please use this link to contact us and we'll respond pronto.

Thank you for being a subscriber and supporter of the Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra! 

For years, my wife and I read nightly to our children, and during that time no author was more beloved to the four of us than Shel Silverstein. When the children were smaller, they enjoyed the goofy, caricatured drawings and silly-sounding names and characters. As they grew older, they were drawn to his brilliant and biting use of rhyme and wordplay, and gradually began to understand the parable-like messages, such as the anti-bullying message and 'rise above' spirit of "The Long Haired Boy". All the while, Carmen and I were in love with its grown-up messaging, like the bittersweet awareness of loss in "Years From Now", or the sky's-the-limit optimism of "When I Am Gone". The beauty and depth of Mr. Silverstein's language, drawings and messages has something for folks of all ages.

It only seemed right to try and bring that spirit to jazz, so in 2013-14, I began composing for my working quartet with Brandon Lee, Steve Haines, and Daniel Faust. 8 of the 9 movements are tone-poems of sorts, attempting to channel the essence of the given poem into melody and rhythm. "The Long Haired Boy" tries to capture the tension of a boy tormented by his peers, as well as that boy's discovery that he can fly. "Masks" tries to capture the sound of two people hiding their true selves from the world, and in the process nearly succeeding in missing their one chance at happiness. Other songs are loose and freely-swinging, like "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too", which is the only song which follows the exact meter of the poem's first stanza - You could sing along, but I wouldn't recommend it, it's hard! :)

In adapting these quartet pieces for the PTJO, I tried to match songs up with our band's many gifted soloists. Drew Hays and Will Campbell have playful senses of humor, so they earned "Falling Up", a poem which turns directional words into their opposites, culminating with the protagonist getting so dizzy that he "threw down" (the kids love that one). Evan Ringel and Mike Hackett play with crisp intensity, so I feature them on "The Clock Man", about the clock man who shows up throughout your life to ask "how much would you pay for an extra day (to live)?" "The Dance of the Shoes" owes a musical debt to local hero John Coltrane, and who knows more about Trane in the Triad than Wally West? And for two movements, we'll be augmented by four of the finest string players in the region.

The birth of this music owed everything to my musical and personal relationships with Steve, Brandon, and Daniel. While the four of us make up a sort of 'core' to hold the music together in trickier spots, this is not a quartet-with-accompaniment scenario. I know what we have in this band, and I love to use the music to let their individual voices, as well as our singular group sound, shine. Duke Ellington always said his instrument *was* the orchestra, and for the first time in my life I've gotten to know what that feels like. For that, I am exceedingly grateful. I love this band, and we are blessed to be together.