University of Central Oklahoma

The University of Central Oklahoma: Jazz Ensembles I and II, 1991-2000

by Jack Bowers
April 4, 2003

A two-disc anthology of surprisingly sharp and powerful big-band jazz by the University of Central Oklahoma’s Ensembles I and II, recorded -- with one exception -- during a nine-year span of concert performances at the Wichita (KS) Jazz Festival. Surprising only because we weren’t familiar with the UCO program, which clearly has flourished under directors Kent Kidwell and Lee Rucker, who have shrewdly advised their students to lay aside any reticence and go all-out on every note. Given the inevitable ...