Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2020
The Kansas City Kansas Community College’s “The Standard” Vocal Jazz Ensemble has released a new single, available now on all digital platforms.
"Reparations" is an original work by KCKCC Theory and Jazz Studies Professor Justin Binek, set to a poem by Kathryn Sparks. Binek is currently writing an entire song cycle on Sparks’ 28-poem collection “Lullabies and Nocturnes.” “Reparations” is the third poem in the “Lullabies” portion of the cycle. The entire cycle is inspired by Binek’s two daughters, Cora and Iris.
“The Standard” premiered the piece at the 2019 Jazz Education Network National Conference in Reno, Nevada and won a DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award for Outstanding Scat Vocalist by Noah Haskin. The recording was made in KCKCC’s audio engineering facility at the Dr. Thomas R. Burke Technical Education Center in May 2019.
Members of “The Standard” include:
Vocalists (from 2018-19) - Morgan Sanguinetti, Lexie Freeman*, Olivia Dotson, Lacey Dean, Maddie Birdashaw*, Noah Haskin+, Ernesto Hodison, Trevor Thoelke, Josiah Moreno* and Adam Bender.
(*Soloists, +Scat soloist)
Rhythm Section and Engineers - Rev. Shanna Steitz, narrator; Dr. Justin Binek, piano; Andrew Stinson, bass; Antonio Reyes, drums; Joe Straws III, turntables; Stephanie Willis, primary mixing engineer; Mason Owen, secondary mixing engineer; Dr. Ian Corbett, mastering engineer; Oscar Alvarez-Alonso, graphic design and John Stafford II, director.
For more information on KCKCC’s “The Standard” Vocal Jazz Ensemble or the KCKCC Vocal Jazz program, contact John Stafford II, director of choral activities and associate professor of music, at jstafford@kckcc.edu or at 913-288-7137.
Category: Arts and Culture
Keywords: choir