On Sept. 19th, the Earl Phillips Big Band brought a taste of swing to Pfleeger Concert Hall as part of the Rowan Spotlight Series.​​ This 18-piece ensemble featured a robust horn section to the right, and a tight rhythm section to the left, with stunning guest vocalist Paula Johns.

This setlist featured many original compositions created by the namesake musician, composer, and director Earl Phillips, including the vivacious opener, El Mooch Está En Fuego. This piece featured the first of many thoughtful solos from trumpet player Tony DeSantis.

What followed was two more originals, Skeets McGwiggin and The New Dirty. In his composition Skeets McGwiggin, Phillips says he wrote the piece about a man whose name he heard throughout his life. The song is “kinda a realization of what I thought this dude might look like.” Skeets McGwiggin in his mind must have been a slow-rolling, smooth-talking guy, because the groove was lush, underscored by delicate comping on the keys. Even the soli taken by the sax section was laid back. 

This is when Paula Johns hit the scene. She remarked that she was “enjoying the original compositions, but you have to throw in some traditional big band stuff every now and then.”

They broke up the original compositions with some classics like Almost Like Being In Love and Everyday I Have The Blues which Paula Johns lent her strong vocal style to. Her chesty, sensuous belt was counterbalanced by a delicate head voice, and you could hear the influence of various jazz and even theater vocalists in her sound.

We took a brief break from the vocals with I’ve Got The World On A String by Harold Arlen, arranged by EP3. The frenetic opening by drummer Felix Manzi evoked a mixed-meter feel that led us straight into a B section of intense drumming beneath a wild trumpet solo, only for it all to slow down for a solo from Skipp Spratt on Bari Sax. Then, it again erupted into chaos underpinned by what I can only describe as bluesy, gospel motifs from the rhythm section. 

This was a piece I think the players themselves would love to play again. I loved watching the ever-increasing “stank face” on various players’ faces as their colleagues soloed.

To wrap up a night of jazz, EP3 and Paula Johns performed I Could Write A Book by Richard Rogers, a piece taken from the musical Pal Joey, and Destination Moon, composed by Marvin Fisher and arranged by Larry McKenna. These two tunes complimented Johns’ voice and were also reliable finishers because of their likely familiarity with audience members.

When all was said and done, various members of the band came to the lobby and mingled with audience members, including the head of EP3 himself, Earl Phillips. Speaking to a group of students, Phillips remarked that this has “been his favorite year he’s been in” in regards to this year of teaching. A teacher himself, he made a point to make a connection with the music education majors in the group, reminding them of both the passion and purpose behind musical education.

This was arguably the best conclusion to the evening. After watching professional musicians lay it all out there for an audience of primary students, making that connection can help viewers and listeners feel connected to what for some, is their future. I hope that EP3 returns to Rowan in the future, to keep the tradition of big band alive, and to continue making connections with students of music.

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