Brass quintet makes stop at OBU

Oklahoma Baptist University will play host to the St. Louis Brass Quintet, an ensemble famed for its humorous approach to music, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Potter Auditorium. OBU's Warren M. Angell College of Fine Arts will sponsor the event.

St. Louis Brass

The chamber musicians will play a variety of music from their CD, Pops Music of the Americas, including Sweet Georgia Brown, I Dream of Jeanie, Camptown Races, La Cucaracha, Mexican Hat Dance, St. Louis Blues and Dixieland Medley.

The quintet also will present a history of brass instruments, including an animal's horn, a conch shell trumpet like that found in King Tut's tomb, a French horn made from a twelve-foot section of garden hose and a straight trombone that is more than 700 years old.

Melvyn Jernigan, trombonist and co-founder of the ensemble, is the only member of the SLBQ to hail from St. Louis, Mo. He has played with the quintet since the 1970s and also is a member of Summit Brass, a spin-off of SLBQ. Jernigan manages Primo concerts, which handles bookings for the two groups and several other chamber music ensembles.

The other four members come from various universities and performance groups across the nation.

Trumpeter Allan Dean is professor of music at Yale University. Dean spent many years teaching and performing in New York before taking the position at Yale and joining the quintet.

Horn player Thomas Bacon is currently a soloist for the Houston Ballet. He has played with hundreds of symphonies and orchestras across the world and has taught at numerous universities and colleges.

Daniel Perantoni teaches at the University of Indiana and plays the tuba for the quintet. In addition to being a teacher and accomplished performer, Perantoni co-designed a line of low brass instruments and mouthpieces that has become popular with brass instrumentalists.

Ray Sasaki, also a trumpet player, is currently a professor of music at the University of Texas. Sasaki has played on many recording labels and was professor of music at the University of Illinois for more than 20 years.

Kevin Pruiett, assistant professor of music at OBU and director of the Bison Jazz Orchestra, studied under Sasaki while pursuing his master's degree at the University of Illinois. He said the quintet's style makes for a worthwhile show.

"They are a collection of some of the best musicians in the world," Pruiett said. "They will entertain everyone."

The SLBQ has been performing with various personnel across the country and around the world for nearly 40 years. Members of the St. Louis Symphony formed the quintet in 1964 and have been featured at numerous music festivals around the world. Their concert at OBU caps off a month-long tour of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact OBU's College of Fine arts at (405) 878-2305 or visit www2.okbu.edu.