The Lamar University Cardinal Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Rick Condit, will present its annual spring concert, Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rothwell Recital Hall. The concert, titled “Video Gamer Jazz,” will feature New York based composer, arranger and performer, Kyle Athayde.
Athayde’s music draws inspiration from a wide variety of sources including video games and internet memes, to jazz and classical masterworks. The arc of a performance ranges from images of nature to Japanese anime scenes to swing, hip-hop and rock grooves.
In addition to original music, he also writes arrangements of well-known and popular songs of all kinds, while still retaining the unique sound and excitement for which he is known.
A native of Orinda, Calif., Athayde plays vibraphone, piano, trumpet, drums, bongos, congas, timbales, string bass, bass clarinet, sousaphone and vocal percussion. He is the leader, conductor and principal writer for the New York based big band The Kyle Athayde Dance Party and serves as a pianist for the New York Trumpet Ensemble.
Athayde’s recent commissioned compositions and premieres include a double concerto for the New York Sinfonietta, a tone poem for Bobby Sanabria and the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra (the title track of their most recent Grammy Award-nominated album, “¡Que Viva Harlem!”), two pieces for the choir and band for the University of Scranton’s performing ensembles and music for the ending credits of the film Diller, Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line. Athayde is currently working on commissions for the Canadian Brass, the New York Trumpet Ensemble, Manhattan School of Music Trumpet Ensemble and the San Francisco Conservatory Brass Choir.
The Video Gamer Jazz Spring Concert is free of charge and open to the public. For more information about this event or the Mary Morgan Moore Department of Music, please visit www.lamar.edu/music.
