Faculty Artist Series: Snider and Friends
About the event
Dave Snider with the Brad Ard Jazz Combo featuring Mindy Ard and Dan Smith
On Thursday, January 26, 2017, 8:00 PM Kimbrough Concert Hall, a concert featuring Dave Snider with the Brad Ard Jazz Group, members of WSU faculty jazz ensemble, Jazz Northwest, and Dan Smith a local jazz drummer, will take place at 8:00 pm in Kimbrough Concert Hall on the WSU Campus. General admission is $10; Sr. Citizens & non-WSU Students, $5; WSU Students FREE with ID. All proceeds from the FAS, admissions and donations, directly fund music student scholarships.
The Brad Ard Jazz Combo is a newly formed group. Four outstanding musicians will be showcased: Brad Ard, guitar; Dave Snider, electric bass; our newest member to the WSU music faculty, Mindy Ard on percussion and steel drums, and Dan Smith, a fantastic local jazz drummer.
This special performance was inspired by the entire group’s desire to make a fresh, special and exciting concert for our music community, something totally different from what has been done in the past. We will be doing rock and fusion music from some of the greatest musicians and compositions from the 1950’s to the present. Special arrangements and compositions all done specifically by members of the group for tonight’s concert.
Frankenstein is in a medium funk groove featuring everyone performing a solo. It is the first funk/fusion instrumental to reach No. 1 on the pop charts. It has a very sweet tutti section.
Jeff Beck’s Lead Boots is in a medium rock blues groove.
The cool performance technique used in this chart is that it goes back and forth from 4/4 to 7/8. Brad does a killer solo!!!
Brad Ard’s composition Banana in a ZZ Top shuffle groove done for an earlier CD recording project. Rescored for our concert it features Mindy Ard on pans and she kills it.
Dizzy Gillespie’s “Tanga”, slang for marijuana, is an exciting Afro-Cuban groove, which, was part of the 1940’s new bop style. It features Dan Smith and Mindy Ard trading some exceedingly cool percussion grooves. It grooves hard!
Linus and Lucy is a popular jazz piano composition by Vince Guaraldi. Snider turns this tune into an electrifying bass solo, doing the melody using tapping techniques and a great solo.
Little Wing featuring Brad Ard on one of Hendrix’s most popular songs. Ranked number 366 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Brad has a killer solo.
John Scofield’s Now She’s Blonde is a very dense chord structure in medium fusion style. It features everyone with a very cool percussion solo between Dan and Mindy. Rock On!!
Stanley Clarke’s School Days, a 1976 jazz rock hit made him a household name for over 40 years. What more can you say????
John Coltrane’s Giant Steps considered one of the most demanding chord progressions of any widely played jazz chart. Brad Ard up-dated Giant Steps to a 21-century funk-groove.
Jamaica Farewell is a Jamaican-style folk song about the beauties of the West Indian Islands. It features Mindy on steel drums. When hearing it will make you want to dance in the aisles of KCH.