MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble: History
The following is reprinted with or without permission (I don't care) from the liner notes of the band's first CD, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, Copyright 1990 JAMIT Productions.
The MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble is a musical organization comprised of undergraduate and graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Currently in its twenty-seventh year, the ensemble primarily performs new works in the jazz idiom by Boston area composers. The ensemble was organized in its present form in 1963 by Herb Pomeroy, noted trumpeter, composer, arranger, and teacher. Herb conducted the group for twenty-two years, and during this time the group performed regularly at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival in South Bend, Indiana, and also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1970. The ensemble has received many awards throughout its history; most recently, it was honored at Notre Dame in 1984 and 1985, and at the Boston University Jazz Festival in 1988, 1989, and 1990. For the past five years, the ensemble has been led by Jamshied Sharifi, a graduate of both MIT and the Berklee School of Music. Jamshied has been involved with the ensemble as a member, composer, and arranger.Music for the ensemble comes from student and profesional writers in the Boston area, ensemble members, and alumni. The ensemble has traditionally performed original compositions and innovative arrangements written expressly for the group's strengths and shortcomings. Herb Pomeroy felt that this gave the group a unique and personal sound unattainable with stock charts. He based this opinion on a deep understanding of, and a sincere respect for, the music of Duke Ellington. Herb's approach generated a feeling among ensemble members that their music had to be played; that they were part of something important. Jamshied Sharifi comments about this tradition: "I began to realize that Herb Pomeroy was instrumental in generating this feeling. His unique position at Berklee [as Senior Composition faculty member] provided us with a steady flow of material. His experience with Charlie Parker, Lionel Hampton, Stan Kenton, and his own professional large ensemble gave him a profound understanding of the jazz idiom, which he generously shared with all his students. He invited us into his rich musical world, and we were compelled to join him. Herb never gave the impression that his musical endeavors outside of MIT were more valuable than the Festival Jazz Ensemble. The band was simply one of the things he did, and he gave it the love and attention one gives to treasured things."
Epilogue (1996):
Taken from the MIT Music Department, 1996, with some embellishments
by this page's author:
Re-christened in 1991 as the "MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble (and Keith)", although somebody complained about putting that on the programs, the band followed the successes of its first album with strong compositions by Sharifi and its longest member, trumpeter David Ricks, carrying it to an Outstanding Performance award at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival in 1991. Their second CD, Go On, was compiled in 1992, and contained almost all original works from within the band. Shortly after the album's release, Sharifi departed the band after seven years to pursue a career in music production in New York. Former director of music for Boston University, Jim O'Dell, rose to the challenge of taking his place (and removing the addition to the band's name).James O'Dell is Chairman of the Music Division at Boston Conservatory and Lecturer at MIT, where he directs the Festival Jazz Ensemble. An active tubist, James has toured and performed with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, Mansfield Faculty Brass Quintet, Boston Tuba Quartet, Shrim Klezmer Orchestra, Orange then Blue, Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, Boston Globe Jazz Festival Repertory Orchestra and Aardvark Orchestra. While serving as Director of Bands at Boston University for seven years, James established The New England Collegiate Jazz Festival. For nine consecutive years, the Collegiate Jazz Festival brought together over 18 college and university jazz ensembles to share performances and receive comments from globally known jazz artists. Past artists have included Dave Bargeron, Ernie Watts, Jim Hall, Randy Brecker, Phil Woods and Hal Crook.
If you're an alumnus of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and have any interesting historical information or anecdotes, please contact the MIT FJE Historian. Oops, wait...they don't have one. In that case, better just send a mail message to the current ensemble, just to be safe.