The Cal Poly Jazz Ensembles will present their first concert of the 2026-27 season at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in the Performing Arts Center.
Titled “The Art of Jazz,” the program will explore the diverse styles that have shaped jazz performance in the 20th and 21st centuries, from swing and hard bop to Latin American and Caribbean traditions, soul and funk.
Highlights from the University Jazz Band’s set will include Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie’s “Anthropology,” Thad Jones’ arrangement of Jerome Richardson’s “GrooveMerchant” and Mario Bauzá’s “Mambo Inn.”
The Jazz Lab Band will make its debut on the concert. The group is a “little big band,” with six to eight horns and a rhythm section. Its set will feature timeless pieces including John Coltrane’s “Lazy Bird,” Mongo Santamaría’s “Afro Blue” and Josef Zawinul’s “Birdland.”
The Composers Combo will premiere “Know How this One Goes,” an original composition by biochemistry major Sam Stabinsky who plays trombone in the group. Three other combos will perform: the Contemporary Combo, Latin Combo and Jazz Standards Combo.
Jamaal Baptiste directs the University Jazz Band and Lab Band, and Dylan Johnson directs the Jazz Combos.
