PORT ANGELES — “Jingle Jazz” is beginning to look a lot like a love-fest.
The songs on the Peninsula College Vocal Jazz Ensemble’s agenda this Thursday night are drenched in emotion, from “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me” to “Since I Fell for You,” “We Kiss in a Shadow” and “We’ve Got a World That Swings.”
The 7 p.m. show is a benefit for the Peninsula College Foundation, with tickets at $10 via www.BrownPaperTickets.com or, if any are left, $15 at the door of the Little Theater at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The concert sold out last year, noted Elaine Gardner-Morales, founder and professor of the vocal ensemble, so she’s urging jazz lovers to pick up tickets before Thursday.
Swinging song
“We’ve Got a World That Swings” is one of the songs ensemble member Janet Lucas savors.
At first, it worries about the Cold War, with words about “atom bombs, Cape Canaveral and false alarms,” but then the singers swing right into romance.
“What’s the hassle?/I’ll buy the castle/We can live like kings/If we’re together forever/ I’ve got a world that/You’ve got a world that/We’ve got a world that swings,” goes the song by Lil Mattis and Louis Yule Brown.
Lucas, who joined the Vocal Jazz Ensemble last year, is reveling in the group dynamics.
“I just love ‘Send Me on My Way,’” one of the ensemble numbers; “the song speaks to me musically because of the world beat and sound,” she said.
For her, the lyrics are about reaching out to another, to adventure, to life.
It hasn’t been easy learning all this music, as Lucas is also a full-time professor at Peninsula College.
Campus and community
She’s singing beside a variety of people from campus and community: guest vocalist Amanda Lynn Bacon; soloists Jessie Spicher, Marissa Wilson, Nikki Stidham, Dana Marklund and Daniel Camper; and ensemble members Gabe Bagno, Ryan Becker, Sierra Fairchild, Randall Gonzales, Alexis Haman, Sam Hegarty, Brandi Larson, Joey Laungayan and Tyler Napiontek.
“The jazz ensemble is so much more than just singing,” said Camper.
“You get to work with some amazing people and learn how to really ‘feel’ jazz music.”
To that end, Bacon will bring “Silver and Gold” and “Since I Fell for You,” while Camper and Spicher will do a duet of “Quando, Quando, Quando.”
Wilson’s song is a jazz version of “O Holy Night,” Marklund’s number is “Avalon,” Camper will offer “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?” and Spicher’s solo is “I Can’t Believe You’re in Love With Me,” made famous by Billie Holiday.
Group numbers also include “Christmas Time Is Here” from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Gardner-Morales is gathering some of her jazz musician friends for this show: bassist Ted Enderle, drummer Terry Smith, pianist Al Harris and saxophone man Craig Buhler. The four will back up the 15-voice group.
To find out more about Thursday’s Jingle Jazz concert and its beneficiary, the Peninsula College Foundation, phone 360-417-6246 or visit www.pencol.edu/foundation.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
