After acclaimed jazz pianist Jason Moran and a 20-member band of CSUN student musicians finished a rousing performance of jazz great Duke Ellington’s legendary composition “Jeep’s Blues,” Moran turned to the audience and said, “this band sounds incredible!”
The audience at The Soraya roared with approval, knowing that the musicians receiving Moran’s special compliment make up the CSUN Jazz “A” Band, the flagship ensemble of the university’s jazz studies program in the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication. Their Feb. 13 concert — “Jason Moran Plays Duke Ellington” — was part of The Soraya’s fourth annual “Jazz at Naz” Festival.
Moran is a composer and artist who has produced nine highly acclaimed recordings with Blue Note Records, and he serves as the artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center. He is playing Ellington’s music around the world during a year-long celebration of the composer’s 125th birthday.
“Working with Jason was a dream because I’ve been a fan of his for a long time,” said graduate student and trumpet player Cesar Hernandez ’17 (Jazz Performance).
The concert with Moran highlights the integral link between the academic programs of the Mike Curb College and The Soraya, a connection that began with a $5 million contribution toward the construction of the performing arts center in 2006 from music industry mogul, alumnus and former California Lt. Gov. Mike Curb ’09 (Hon.D.).
Professor Tina Raymond, CSUN’s director of Jazz Studies, said having renowned guest artists like Moran collaborate with students on The Soraya stage provides special learning experiences.
“They not only work in this venue with world-class musicians, but they also get the real experience of working with professional sound crews and juggling the schedule of a performer,” she said.
With Raymond serving as bandleader, the student musicians began preparing for the Ellington concert in January, reviewing sheet music and carefully listening to reference recordings of Moran playing with a big band in Europe.
“We had Ellington’s sheet music, but Jason does some of the songs his own way,” said graduate student Jordan Leicht ’18 (Jazz Performance), who plays alto saxophone. “We didn’t have Jason’s edits written in our music, so we were listening to the recordings and figuring out how to add these new chords here and how to play this new groove there.”
When Moran arrived at CSUN for rehearsals in the days prior to the concert, he told students to bring themselves to the music and to reinvent it for a 2025 audience.
“He really urged us to bring the pieces into a new light,” Hernandez said. “Jason has a good grounding in the tradition of Ellington’s music, but he is also looking forward, so he wanted us to have our feet in the past and in the future.”
For Moran, Ellington has always been a futurist, evidenced by songs like “I Like the Sunrise” and “Come Sunday.”
“He’s always thinking about the next [Sunday or the next sunrise] coming, the experience just around the corner,” Moran said in an interview with CSUN Newsroom. “I like to think of Ellington as a person who is always moving toward the future.”
At the concert, Leicht wowed the audience with a solo on “Jeep’s Blues” originally written for Ellington’s lead alto saxophone player, the late Johnny Hodges.
“Hodges is one of the most legendary saxophone players with such a quintessential sound and expression, so it was really big shoes for me to fill,” Leicht said.
Graduate student and drummer Karo Galadjian also got his chance to shine in the spotlight, closing one of the final numbers alone on stage as band members slowly exited and headed for the wings.
“Jason said the audience would be grooving with me,” Galadjian said. “It was fun.”
For Hernandez, the concert was just the latest opportunity he found at The Soraya as a student in the Mike Curb College.
“The Soraya feels like home base to me,” Hernandez said. “Over the years of being a student, an usher, performing in concerts and attending concerts, I’ve seen how much the [Executive and Artistic] Director Thor [Steingraber] and the whole team at The Soraya care so much about the students.”
Two more Soraya events this season will feature CSUN students. On April 17, the Jazz Is Dead concert featuring Adrian Younge will include musicians from the Mike Curb College, and on April 26, dancers from several groups on the CSUN campus will be featured in LA Dances GRAHAM100.
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