Library Jazz Band Hits the Low Notes

Hitting the low notes is not usually something to aspire to, but the Lib r ary Jazz Band plans to turn that concept upside down at its International Jazz Day performance. On April 30, the band will turn a spotlight on instruments at the low end of the musical spectrum, such as the double bass, tuba and bass saxophone.

“When I was thinking about this show,” says Nancy Maron, the band’s co-founder and artistic director, “I liked the idea that we could get younger people excited by featuring unusual instruments. Kids don’t get to see a bass sax every day of the week, and a tuba is a cool thing to hear playing jazz.”

It’s not unusual for the Library Jazz Band to organize its concerts around themes, such as Broadway show tunes or television theme music, with arrangements written by many of the band’s accomplished players. That tradition will continue in the opening portion of its “Hitting the Low Notes” show, which will feature music by bass legend Jaco Pastorious, a trombone section workout on the Thad Jones tune “Tiptoe,” and a shining baritone sax moment in Charles Mingus’s “Moanin.”

For the second half of the show, the band has extended its reach and invited composer Joseph Daley, revered in the jazz world for his work with the tuba, trombone and euphonium, to conduct his suite, The Seven Deadly Sins, a work inspired by the paintings of artist and musician Wade Schuman.

Maron’s association with the composer goes back to her high school days when Daley, also a beloved music educator, was her band director. When planning the concert, she thought immediately of The Seven Deadly Sins. “You’ll see in his music, it’s jazz, but there are so many references to almost any genre you can think of – Bach, baroque, blues. He wanted to paint with those lower sounds throughout the ensemble and that’s really what this suite does. For instance, in the Anger section, five different saxes improvise simultaneously, trying to express that feeling. That’s what’s painterly about this music.”

The suite also required the band to increase its numbers. “The band is normally comprised of 17 players,” Maron explains, “but there will be 24 on stage because Daley’s composition requires instrumentation that is specific to the piece and not that common in jazz. We’ll add two French horns, bass sax and tuba, as well as three percussionists because of the Brazilian and world rhythms he uses.”

The suite’s eclectic nature made it a perfect fit for the band’s first participation in International Jazz Day, an event celebrated in more than 190 countries. Maron also emphasizes the significance of presenting the performance at the Yonkers Public Library, which has partnered with the band since its founding in 2021, and inspired the band’s name. “The library itself stands for providing access to experiences, which is also a key part of the band’s mission. We are dedicated to sharing America’s own music as broadly as we can and developing a whole new generation of fans for this important and exciting music. I love shows to be at libraries so that we can open our doors to as broad an audience as would like to join us.”