Greg Hopkins Nonet Kicks Off New Season of JAZZ @ the Arsenal Series with a Concert of COOL JAZZ

JAZZ @ The Arsenal revs up its new season on Tuesday, September 11, at 7:30PM with the Cryogenic Renaissance Orchestra, AKA Greg Hopkins Nonet, presented by the Arsenal Center for the Arts.  

This dynamic, brilliant-sounding mini big band features some of the best faculty musicians at Berklee School of Music led by iconic composer/trumpet player Hopkins, with pianist Tim Ray, drummer Bob Gullotti, bassist Keala Kaumeheiwa, trombonist Jeff Galindo, French horn player Ken Pope, tubist Greg Fritze, and saxophonists Shannon LeClaire and Dino Govoni.

The series features a wide variety of jazz styles performed by the best ensembles in the Boston area with many headed up by Berklee’s world- renowned faculty.  Performances are held in the intimate Black Box Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts located at 321 Arsenal St. in Watertown.  Free parking is available and the venue is handicapped accessible.  Tickets are $20; $18 for members; $15 for students, plus fees.  For tickets or more information, call the box office at 617-923-8487 or visit http://www.arsenalarts.org.

The 9-piece band’s repertoire includes several original arrangements of Miles Davis’ influential “Birth of the Cool” recordings, while also paying homage to two Blue Note albums from the late ‘60s: McCoy Tyner’s “Tender Moments” and Herbie Hancock’s “The Prisoner.”  This concert will pay tribute to beloved local trumpeter, the late Herb Pomeroy, as well as the West Coast “ultra-cool sounds” from Henry Mancini’s score for the “Peter Gunn” TV series.  Other pieces in the set list include:  Ellington’s “Such Sweet Thunder” and Tyner’s “Mode for John,” as well as Davis’ “Moondreams,” “Israel” and “Boplicity” from the 1949-1950 sessions. Hopkins offers new works, such as “The Lost Bagatelles of the Maitake,” an ambitious seven-part composition exploring the textural and technical parameters of the ensemble.

 Hopkins is a Berklee brass and jazz composition professor.  Among the many stellar credits in his international career are performances with Tony Bennett and many other jazz greats, arranging for RCA records, music directing for the Buddy Rich band and appearances at the Newport and Monterey jazz festivals.

 Bob Blumenthal from the Boston Globe writes:  “Greg Hopkins, the inspired trumpeter/composer, is one of Boston’s unappreciated jazz treasures.” 

Tickets: 

http://arsenalarts.org/music.html#jazzatthearsenal