Directors
Duane Benjamin
See BioDuane Benjamin is an accomplished performer, composer, orchestrator and arranger. For over thirty years he has made a successful living playing trombone, electric bass, and arranging “clean, easy to read charts” for industry legends and everyday musicians alike.
Benjamin has performed and recorded with jazz greats like the Count Basie Orchestra, Stanley Clark, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra and The Clayton–Hamilton Orchestra, not to mention contemporary legends like Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson, Joss Stone, Diana Ross, Earth Wind and Fire, Jamiroquai, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops, rock guitarist Steve Vai, Kirk Franklin and many more. As an orchestrator, his work has also been featured on top-rated television shows such as American Idol and the Voice.
Hitomi Oba
See BioHailed by the LA Times as a “powerfully inventive” and “remarkably versatile L.A. musician with a penchant for crossing all over the musical place,” saxophonist and composer Hitomi Oba’s work emphasizes the integration of improvisation with pre-composed music.
She has written for and performed in various jazz and classical new music settings, including commissions by the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series and the Seattle Symphony’s chamber series, and as a member of Kenny Burrell’s Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited and the Jon Jangtet. In addition to leading her own ensembles, ranging from trios to big band, Oba is a co-founder of the new music collective, LA Signal Lab, premiering and recording stylistically diverse new music including a collaborative, multi-genre cantata. Her second jazz album, “Negai,” released under Japanese label M&I and distributor Pony Canyon, received a prestigious “Swing Journal 42nd Annual Jazz Disc Award.”
Originally from Berkeley, CA, Oba is currently based in Los Angeles, teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles directing several progressive and exploratory jazz ensembles, teaching jazz saxophone lessons, and developing and teaching multi-genre music theory curricula. She is the director of the Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
Program Notes
Commercial Music Studio Ensemble, directed by Duane Benjamin
Gluck Combo, directed by Duane Benjamin
Charles Mingus Ensemble, directed by Hitomi Oba
Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, directed by Hitomi Oba
***
Commercial Music Studio Ensemble, directed by Duane Benjamin
Program:
Uptown Funk, by Bruno Mars
Buddy Rich Suite (Love for Sale by Cole Porter & Nutville by Horace Silver), Arr. by Duane Benjamin
Get Here, by Brenda Russell
To The Dreamers (A Daca Tribute), By Duane Benjamin
Jambalaya by Hank Williams, Arr. By Duane Benjamin
Personnel:
Vocalists: – Ellie Rice, Coco Mori, Dakota Dry, Leila Johnson, Arya Hora
Rhythm Section:
Piano – Keshav Balaji
Guitar – Caleb Sokolowski & Johnny Bhaskar
Bass – Micha Johnson, Matt Wilson, Sara Gorman
Drums – Coleman Seavey
Violinists: – Raina Markham, Rebecca Bernstein, Sophia Shih.
Horns:
Trumpets – Saul Gutierrrez, Daniel Harris, McCartney Hutchinson, David Marsh, Ella Tarara,
Trombones – Miles Chen, Aiden Doyle, Ryan Heisinger, Spencer Mar
Saxes: Elijah Silverman (Alto), Dalton Mumphrey (Tenor), Jordan Casciato (Baritone)
Gluck Combo, directed by Duane Benjamin
Program:
Inner Urge by Joe Henderson
Spring by Caleb Sokolowski
Juggle Beat by William Werthimer
Actual Proof by Herbie Hancock
Personnel:
Kenneth Zayas – Alto Sax
Caleb Sokolowski – Tenor Sax
William Werthimer – Trumpet
Caden Potter – Piano
Micah Johnson – Bass
Nathaniel Miles-Urdan – Drums
The Mingus Ensemble
Program:
“Track C – Group Dancers” by Charles Mingus, arranged by Ruby Lim-Moreno
“Pigeons” by Matthew Wilson
“Villain Vanguard” by Bria Skonberg
“Reincarnation of a Lovebird” by Charles Mingus
Personnel:
Emily Lim – Flute
Barrett Koontz – Alto Saxophone
Caleb Sokolowski – Tenor Saxophone
Yanaya Silva – Baritone Saxophone
Adam Sondik – Trumpet
Ruby Lim-Moreno – Bass Trombone, Flute
Dawson Lau – Guitar
Matthew Wilson – Bass
Connor Ridley – Drums, Percussion
The Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
Program:
“I Said Cool, You Said…What?” by Miho Hazama
“Blue Yonder” by Christine Jensen
“On the Stage in Cages” by Carla Bley
Personnel:
Saxophone/Woodwinds – Barrett Koontz, Kenny Zayas, Adam Zilberman, Yanaya Silva
Trumpet/Flugelhorn – Jackson Bacon, Willie Werthimer, Julian Johnson, Ella Tarara, Jesse Chi
Trombone/French Horn – Andrew Slipka, Hannah Lee, Michelle Yang, Nury Lee, Miles Chen
Piano – Hugo Onghai
Guitar – Henry Baskin, Gavin Lancanlale
Bass – Connor Gilbert
Drums/Percussion – Dash Goss-Post