Well it’s a marvelous night for a moondance – or a free concert put on by Concord’s house band, the Freese Brothers Big Band.
That’s right, the swing kings of Concord are still going strong, and they’re bringing their classic brand of big-band sound to the Concord City Auditorium this Wednesday (hopefully you didn’t already miss it) to play a show as part of the Walker Lecture Series Concerts.
This free show will feature hot-shot trumpet player Chris Burbank, who played in the Freese Brothers Big Band as a high-schooler, said David Tirrell-Wysocki, a vice president (maybe the vice president, he said) and spokesman for the band.
The Freese Brothers Big Band is kind of a big deal around here – they’ve been around since 1982 – so they’re not likely to just let any old schlub off the streets join in on a performance.
Luckily, Burbank is anything but a schlub (no disrespect to all the fine schlubs out there).
He graduated from UNH with a bachelor’s degree in music education, then earned a master’s degree in jazz studies at The Juilliard School, Tirrell-Wysocki said. In 2014, Burbank completed his doctor of musical arts in jazz performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music.
Impressed yet? What about this?
He’s performed with Steve Miller, Barry Manilow, Frankie Valli, Natalie Cole, Dave Liebman, Gordon Goodwin, Kevin Spacey and Maria Schneider. He’s recorded with George Benson and has performed on television specials for PBS with Gloria Estefan, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
In other words, the guy is pretty legit, and this may be your only shot to witness his abilities. Plus, he’s playing with the Big Band, so you really can’t afford to miss this one.
The purposes of the Big Band – which is a nonprofit – are to support and encourage the development of the musical talents of the public (especially young musicians) and its members, and to foster an appreciation of music of all eras.
Band members come from diverse professional and musical backgrounds and include talented local high school students as well as people, well, a bit older than that.
When they combine all their years of experience, the result is the distinctive sound of the Freese Brothers Big Band.
At the show Wednesday, you’ll hear a lot of classic trumpet tunes – and Burbank will surely nail them all.
The show is at the Audi from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, and is free and open to the public.
