BUTLER UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC presents BUTLER UNIVERSITY GENERATIONS ENSEMBLE Brent Wallarab, director Featuring Erin Benedict and Annie Brown, vocals Livestream Thursday, January 28, 2021 7:30 P.M. The forty-second program of the Butler University School of Music 2020-21 season Jordan College of the Arts | Butler University | 4600 Sunset Ave | Indianapolis, IN | 46208 PROGRAM Work Song Nat Adderley (1931-2000) Arr. Geoffrey Keezer Tucker Woerner, bass trombone Tom Pieciak, trumpet Xavier Robertson, tenor saxophone At Long Last Love Cole Porter (1891-1964) Arr. Jamey Simmons Erin Benedict, vocals A Flower is A Lovesome Thing Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) Erin Benedict, vocals Scott Kelley, tenor saxophone Bemsha Swing Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) Arr. Bill Holman Gary Walters, piano Mitchell Remington, trumpet Matt Pivec, alto saxophone Pure Spirit Steve Allee (b. 1950) Mitchell Remington, flugelhorn Sandy Williams, guitar Angel Eyes Matt Dennis (1914-2002) Arr. Mark Buselli Annie Brown, vocals Bird Count Maria Schneider (b. 1960) Gary Walters, piano Ethan Hodes, trumpet Richard Dole, trombone Zachary Weiler, baritone saxophone Jordan College of the Arts | Butler University | 4600 Sunset Ave | Indianapolis, IN | 46208 BUTLER UNIVERSITY GENERATIONS ENSEMBLE Brent Wallarab, director This performance marks the debut of the Butler University Generations Ensemble, comprised of current Butler students, recent graduates, and faculty. Rhythm Section Drums – Jonathan Padgett, Chelsea Hughey Bass – David Richards, Jesse Wittman* Guitar – Sandy Williams,* Ethan Veliky Piano – Gary Walters Trombones Rich Dole* (lead) Chaz Rhodes Max Brown Tucker Woerner (Bass) Trumpets Allen Miller* (lead) Ethan Hodes Tom Pieciak Mitchell Remington Saxophones Matt Pivec* (Alto 1) Sabin Martinez (Alto 2) Xavier Robertson (Tenor 1) Scott Kelley (Tenor 2) Zachary Weiler (Baritone) Vocals Erin Benedict* Annie Brown *Butler University School of Music Faculty Member Jordan College of the Arts | Butler University | 4600 Sunset Ave | Indianapolis, IN | 46208 BIOS BRENT WALLARAB Composer/arranger, bandleader, and former trombonist Brent Wallarab is the David N. Baker Professor of Jazz at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he conducts Jazz Ensemble I and teaches courses in jazz arranging, composition, and jazz history. Before his post at the Jacobs School, he maintained a diverse freelance career writing for or performing with artists including The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Benny Carter, The Count Basie Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney, The New York Pops Orchestra, Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, Perry Como, and Bobby Short. A founding member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Wallarab served as lead trombonist and principal arranger from 1991 through 2008 and was appointed as specialist in jazz for the Smithsonian Institution in 1993. In 1994, Wallarab co-founded the Indianapolis-based Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (BWJO), which has given over 1000 live performances. The BWJO has recorded eight CDs. Their 2008 release Basically Baker was been named one of the top 100 jazz albums of the decade by DownBeat magazine. Wallarab has had an active national and international career including performances in Canada, Italy, France, Finland, The Netherlands, England, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, and all 50 U.S. states. He has arrangements published through Warner Bros., Kendor, and Really Good Music. ERIN TWENTY BENEDICT Erin Twenty Benedict studied Jazz Voice Performance and Commercial Music at The Manhattan School of Music. While in school, she traveled with the Manhattan School of Music Big Band to Italy where they were featured performers at the Venito Jazz Festival in Venice, Italy. She had the privilege of studying under Sheila Jordan, Jackie Presti, and Nancy Marano while in school. During her years in New York, Erin worked as a session singer recording backgrounds for Disney, including the motion picture “Mission to Mars,” Magnolia Pictures, and Mater Dei Music. Erin was one of eight singers to record “Passport to the Universe” narrated by Tom Hanks, which is the featured show at the Hayden Planetarium of New York’s American Museum of Natural History. She toured the United States for two years with “Pieces of 8,” an eight-person a cappella jazz ensemble. Erin now resides in Indianapolis, IN and is a soprano section leader and soloist at Second Presbyterian Church, and a studio session vocalist at Aire Born Studios, The Lodge Recording Studio, and Gaither Studios. Erin serves on the jazz faculty at Butler University, teaching voice and directing Jordan Jazz, a vocal jazz ensemble. She is on the choral staff at the University of Indianapolis directing the vocal jazz ensemble, Crimson Express. She recently recorded a commercial for a national campaign for Lids. Erin has released an album, “Steal Away” and can be heard on the radio and singing live shows locally and with regional Symphony Orchestras. Erinbenedict.com ANNIE BROWN Annie Brown is a singer and songwriter from Geneva, Illinois. She will be graduating from Butler University this spring with a degree in Jazz Studies alongside her closest friends, and cannot wait to celebrate the achievements of her fellow musicians. While at Butler, Annie has studied with Erin Benedict and Dr. Oliver Worthington in the jazz and classical departments, respectively. She has sung with Jordan Jazz and the Butler Chorale and had roles in The Old Maid and the Thief and Hansel and Gretel with Butler Opera Theatre. She has especially enjoyed her experiences as a featured soloist with the Butler University Jazz Ensemble and the opportunities to work with renowned jazz composer Benny Golson and Jay Jennings of Snarky Puppy. Annie has also appreciated teaching at Butler through their Youth Jazz Program, where she has worked as a teaching fellow during the summers and last fall. In addition to her academic endeavors, Annie has also worked with Fourth Sunday Music Co., a non-profit organization that is committed to supporting emerging songwriters in Indianapolis. She recorded three original songs with their support, and could not be more excited for their releases over the coming months. Outside of music, you can find her with her friends, volunteering through her sorority, or making lattes downtown. She has loved her time at Butler dearly, and will continue performing, writing, and recording wherever the wind takes her. Jordan College of the Arts | Butler University | 4600 Sunset Ave | Indianapolis, IN | 46208 JCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT We acknowledge that we gather here at Butler University on the traditional land of indigenous peoples including the Potawatomi, Miami, Delaware, and Shawnee. We honor with gratitude the land itself and the indigenous peoples past and present who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit, while also acknowledging that some were brought to this land not by choice. The Butler University School of Music is proud to acknowledge Meridian Piano Movers as a corporate sponsor of our programs. Jordan College of the Arts | Butler University | 4600 Sunset Ave | Indianapolis, IN | 46208 .