Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble

The Barbary Coast is the student jazz ensemble of Dartmouth College. Composed almost entirely of non-music majors, the ensemble specializes in the music of the African-American and Afro-Caribbean jazz traditions. Through a highly respected series of extended residencies and concerts, the students in the Coast enjoy outstanding opportunities to learn from and perform with some of the finest jazz artists in the world. Recent guest artists have included Arturo O’Farrill, Ivan Renta, Jim Seeley, Nicole Mitchell, Joe Bowie, Jimmy Bosch, Giovanni Hidalgo, Conrad Herwig, Butch Morris and Ray Santos. Guest artists for this year will be the gifted young New York-based keyboardist/composer/bandleader Jason Lindner with the ensemble in November 2009, and two creative musicians whose music knows no bounds, brassman/composer/arranger/bandleader Steven Bernstein and multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, piano, percussion) and bandleader Peter Apfelbaum for a special Winter Carnival “Big Band Now” concert in February, 2010. The Coast performs a mainstage concert (Spaulding Auditorium) during fall, winter and spring terms. Depending upon student leadership, members of the Coast may also participate in jam sessions or form popular “spin-off” combos. The wide-ranging repertoire of the ensemble extends from original compositions and arrangements by its director and students within the group to works by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson and various contemporary jazz composers, from the Latin jazz of Ray Santos and Chico O’Farrill to the challenging Conductions of Butch Morris, from New Orleans brass band music and Big Band Funk to the out-of-this-world compositions of Sun Ra. Based on its wide-ranging repertoire, many of the distinguished guest artists who have done residencies and performances with the group have proclaimed the Barbary Coast “the most eclectic college jazz ensemble in the country.”

Director: Don Glasgo, Master of Music (valve trombone and piano). Don Glasgo holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music theory and composition from Ohio University and the University of Illinois. he has taught courses in jazz and literature, jazz history, jazz composition, jazz ensembles, American music, theory and composition and world music at Dartmouth, Hamilton College, Lyndon State College, Goddard College, Vermont College and The Putney School. As a faculty member at Goddard College, he directed the Institute for Creative Music and the groundbreaking “Salsa Meets Jazz”: The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Seminar with the Eddie Palmieri Octet. He has written over 100 jazz compositions and arrangements, many of them premiered by the Barbary Coast. An accomplished valve trombonist, Glasgo has performed with Michael Ray & the Cosmic Krewe, Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt Big Band, the Oliver Lake Big Band, the Sun Ra Arkestra and Phish. He leads Gusano, his own eclectic professional band, is the founder and director of the popular non-profit educational program, JAZZology, is the author of Jazzlines and was a featured columnist for Jazz Improv magazine. Glasgo is the Associate Director of the Rutgers Summer Jazz Institute (New Brunswick, NJ) in July and, in August, one of three jazz teachers at the 10th edition of Trombonanza ’09 in Sante Fe, Argentina, a low brass celebration bringing together 300 trombonists from across South America. This is his 34th year as Director of the Barbary Coast.

Email: Don.Glasgo@Dartmouth.EDU