Valentine's jazz in Shamblin supports A cappella Singers' Italian tour

Janel Shoun | 

Lipscomb University invites the community to celebrate Valentine’s Day at Dessert, Coffee & Jazz, a Feb. 14 concert of the Jazz Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Band in Shamblin Theatre. There will be two performances at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and guests will enjoy dessert and coffee served by the members of the Lipscomb choral group, the A Cappella Singers.

Cost to attend is $7.50 and the proceeds will benefit the A cappella Singers upcoming tour in Italy. Tickets may be reserved by calling Jazz Vocal Ensemble director Gary Wilson 615.966.5750.

The repertoire for the evening includes:

  • "I Can't Give You Anything but Love”
  • “I Get Along Without You Very Well”
  • “Sway”
  • “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans”
  • “Happy Together”
  • “I Got News for You”
  • “'Round Midnight”
  • “Do Nothin' Till you Hear from Me”
  • “Taking A Chance on Love”
  • “The Shadow of Your Smile”
  • “Someone to Watch Over Me”
  • “Good Night”

The A cappella Singers are headed to Vienna, Austria; and Rome, Florence and Venice, Italy, June 4-13, on a concert tour. Twelve high school students from Nashville, Kansas and Oklahoma will join eighteen members of the university’s A Cappella Singers and 20 adults on the trip, performing in churches and cathedrals in Europe.

“Musically, it’s so valuable to get to perform in these great acoustic spaces,” said Gary Wilson, director of the A Cappella Singers and the Jazz Vocal Band. “A lot of the music in the tour program was written with these great spaces in mind. There is longer reverberation and it really changes the way the music sounds.”

Students will also be exposed to different cultures and even get the chance to stay with an Italian family in Florence, Wilson said.

In addition to the $7.50 admittance fee, Wilson will be selling copies of the A Cappella Singers’ CD, The Lord is the Everlasting God, at the concert for $15. This is the first recording under the direction of Dr. Gary Wilson, and comprises material performed during the 2006-2007 concert season.

Selections include classical works from the Romantic and Modern eras, works in Hebrew and Swahili, traditional hymns and spirituals, and the first recording of the Tritones, a student trio singing their own gospel hymn arrangements.

Audiences will get a chance to hear the musical program that will be heard throughout Italy, including the guest high school vocalists, on June 3 at the Smith Springs Church of Christ.

For more information on the music department, call 966-5929, or e-mail marilyn.smith@lipscomb.edu.