The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra 50th Season Spring Concert

Adventurous spirit, eclectic repertoire, and positive social conscience…an ongoing Boston jazz tradition – The Boston Globe

Mandorla Music is proud to co-present this concert celebrating 50 years of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. One of the longest-running jazz ensembles in the world, Aardvark has garnered international acclaim and a devoted following for its electrifying performances of music by founder/director Mark Harvey, plus classics and rarities by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and other jazz legends.

The band has premiered more than 200 works and has released 16 CDs, including 10 recordings on Leo Records, one of the world’s leading adventuresome music labels.

Guest artists have included Geri Allen, Jaki Byard, Jay Clayton, Dominique Eade, Ricky Ford, Jimmy Giuffre, Vinny Golia, Robert Honeysucker, Sheila Jordan, Paul Lovens, Rajesh Mehta, Lewis Porter, Matt Savage, and Walter Thompson.

Aardvark is noteworthy for its 50-year history as an ensemble and for the long tenure of its members: Arni Cheatham (46), Peter Bloom (46), Phil Scarff (35), Chris Rakowski (20), Dan Zupan (24)/saxes & woodwinds; KC Dunbar (32) and Jeanne Snodgrass (33)/trumpets, cornet; Bob Pilkington (39+), Jay Keyser (35)/trombones; Bill Lowe (27+)/bass trombone, tuba; Richard Nelson (35)/guitar; Jesse Williams (10)/string bass; Harry Wellott (39+)/drums; Grace Hughes (18)/vocalist; Mark Harvey (50)/founder, music director, arranger.

Mark Harvey has performed in major venues including Fenway Park and Symphony Hall (Boston), the Knitting Factory and the Village Gate (NYC), the National Gallery of Art (DC), the Left Bank Jazz Society (MD), the Southern California Institute of Architecture (CA), the Berlin Jazz Festival (Germany), and the Baja State Theater (Mexico). His musical credits also include recordings with George Russell’s Living Time Orchestra (Blue Note), and Baird Hersey & the Year of the Ear (Arista/Novus) and appearances with Gil Evans, Howard McGhee, Sam Rivers, Claudio Roditi, and other luminaries.

Harvey has received commissions from the Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program, the 15th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, FiLmprov, the MIT Sesquicentennial Celebration, Organization of American Kodaly Educators, and the MIT Festival Jazz and Wind Ensembles, among others. In 2019, Dr. Harvey received the Roy Haynes Award from Jazz Boston, and in 2015, he was named Boston Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association, one of 24 jazz advocates/activists recognized nationally. Harvey recently retired from a distinguished career teaching jazz studies and composition at MIT.

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