The Postmodern Jazz Quartet, composed of four IU professors and a graduate student, will perform at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Bear’s Place.
The quartet includes Jeff Isaac on piano, Pat Harbison on trumpet, Jonathan Elmer on trombone, Jeremy Allen on bass and Cami Pererya on drums.
Issac, Harbison and Allen are music professors. Elmer is an English professor, and Pererya is a graduate student in the Jacobs School of Music. Allen is also the executive associate dean at the music school.
The quartet will perform hard bop jazz classics from the 1950s and 1960s, including songs by Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Sonny Clark, Elmo Hope and Hank Mobley.
“My favorite tune to play lately is the Lee Morgan ballad ‘Ceora’ because our trumpet player, Pat Harbison, is terrific and he sounds beautiful on that tune,” Issac said.
This group will be joined for their second set by graduate student Ana Nelson on the alto sax. This set will include a mini tribute to the Cannonball Adderley Quartet, featuring soul-jazz classics by Cannonball and Nat Adderley.
Following the death of Nancy Wilson, an artist who recorded with Adderley, Harbison was inspired to write out one of the instrumental tunes from that record. This is what the group will play Thursday.
"I had already planned to play several tunes by Cannonball Adderley on this show,” Harbison said. “This is some of the first jazz I fell in love with as a teenager.”
This performance is a part of Bear’s annual Jazz Fables Concert Series, which has been running since 1989. All year long, every Thursday from 5:30 – 8 p.m. Bear’s Place hosts a different jazz musician and/or group.
David Miller, founder and director of the Jazz Fables concert series, said that because of the close location to the music school and the series’ long history, people can expect a show that showcases a high level of expertise.
“The music is what is the focus of the attention. It is not background music for people to talk loudly over,” Miller said. “They will find that this is a very strong listening experience.”
Tickets for this performance can be purchased at the door and are $7 for general admission and $5 for students.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said the group had three IU professors. The group has four. The IDS regrets this error.
