DeKALB | The NIU Jazz Ensemble will present its fall concert free to the public Thursday in the Duke Ellington Ballroom in the Holmes Student Center. The concert is at 8 p.m.

Concert attendees expecting Jazz Ensemble director Ronald Carter’s signature hootin’, hollerin’ and full-body-spasm dancing will be surprised to see a new face up front. Rodrigo Villanueva, assistant professor of jazz studies, is taking Carter’s place during a well-deserved sabbatical leave — his first in 13 years at NIU.

Villanueva, now in his fourth year at NIU, normally teaches jazz arranging and private drum set lessons and directs the NIU Jazz Lab Band. Under Villanueva, the Lab Band’s hallmark has been diversity, making it stand out in contrast to the more traditional, straight-ahead leanings of Carter’s Jazz Ensemble.
Villanueva has brought his diverse musical aesthetic with him, using a catalog of modern, big band music by composers such as Maria Schneider and Pat Metheny.

“It’s been quite a trip,” Villanueva said about this semester. “Half of the band was really into doing new stuff but the other half of the band was not into doing stuff that was not so swinging.”

“Swing” was always the operative word in Carter’s ensemble, which sought to channel the rhythmic essence of Count Basie and Duke Ellington’s great swing bands.
Villanueva’s penchant for diverse material is as much a matter of personal taste as it is an educational concern.

“I think the contemporary musician needs to be based on the tradition ... but at the same time, you need to be an all-around type of player,” Villanueva said.
Bernard Long, senior jazz studies major, in his third year drumming with the Jazz Ensemble, prefers Carter’s musical taste but sees the value in stretching out.

“We are known as a traditional swing big band, but you never know what you’ll be called for [as a professional musician], so we’re doing something different,” he said.

In the second half of Thursday’s concert, drum legend Peter Erskine will help the band navigate the new musical territory. Erskine will play a set of tunes of his own choice, which, according to Villanueva, fall right in line with the diverse style he was trying to stress with this concert.

Thursday night’s concert is part of a four-day tour, taking the ensemble throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. Those four concerts will also mark the end of Villanueva’s tenure with the ensemble, a realization that is cause for reflection.

“I’m probably going to remember this band the rest of my career,” Villanueva said.

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