Jazz bassist, Calypso band join EOU students for winter concert

Jazz bassist, Calypso band join EOU students for winter concert

Feb. 28, 2020 LA GRANDE, Ore. – Students in instrumental ensembles at Eastern Oregon University perform their winter concert at 7:30 p.m., on Friday, March 6 in McKenzie Theatre.

Guest bassist Willy Barber will be leading EOU’s 45th Parallel in a tribute to Jaco Pastorius, “one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century,” Music Instructor Greg Johnson said. 

45th Parallel, accompanied by the Elgin High School Calypso Band, will play a set of standard hits. In the line-up, they’ll perform solo and full-band versions of compositions written or popularized by Pastorius in the jazz and fusion bands he played with during the 1970s and 1980s, before his death. 

Barber has played on or produced over 30 recordings. He has shared the stage and studio with musicians Sonny Landreth, Ndugu Chancler, Danny Gatton, Trilok Gurtu, Dan Akroyd, Curtis Salgado, Jimmie Vaughan, Howard Tate, Red Rodney, Al Green and Steve Miller.

He attended the University of North Texas and studied with Ray Brown, Glen Moore, and Jaco himself. He’s been honored with 10 Muddy Awards from the Cascade Blues Association in Portland.

Tunes by Weather Report, the Word of Mouth Big Band, and Joni Mitchell’s Shadows and Light band will be performed.

Rounding out the concert will be performances by the EOU Fiddle Ensemble, the African Drumming Ensemble and the Creative Ensemble. The Elgin High School Calypso Band will also be performing with 45th Parallel.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.  

For more information, contact Greg Johnson at gjohnson2@eou.edu.

Written by PR Intern Briana Rosenkranz.