Weekend Showcase: North Hennepin Community College celebrates a decade of jazz
North Hennepin Community College will present a jazz concert on Friday night to celebrate 10 years of jazz at the college. Admission is free.
North Hennepin Celebrates Jazz
There is a very special concert taking place at North Hennepin Community College.
On Friday night in the Fine Arts Auditorium, you can see a jazz concert that has been ten years in the making.
“About ten years ago Carla Miller, who was the choir director at Brooklyn United Methodist Church and also the choir director here, talked to me about restarting the jazz band,” said David Mantini. Today he is an instructor and Director of the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Concerts at North Hennepin.
Before 2009, there had been a 15 year gap at North Hennepin with no instrumental music.
“What was cool was we had some community members that came and played with us. We had some high school kids that came and played with us, some college kids,” said Mantini. “It kind of became this really unique blend.”
Band members have changed over the years, but the music has been constant. Friday night will celebrate a decade of eclectic musicians producing instrumental music at North Hennepin.
Also worth noting, Mantini hired a long-time friend named Dean Sorenson to write a special piece of music for the concert. Sorenson is a professor at the University of Minnesota, a composer, and an author of books on jazz.
“I knew that there were great things going on here,” said Sorenson. “But to be asked to do something like this for an occasion like this is just a real special honor.”
Sorenson will play with the band in the hour-long concert too.
“I asked Dave if he had any thoughts and he said the band wanted some funk. So I put together something funky,” said Sorenson.
And the name of the original piece? ”The Great Mantini”
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