Internationally known saxophone quartet to perform with USU jazz groups

Kristen Steiner

Utah State University music department presented “Big Bands” featuring the USU Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble with special guest saxophone quartet FOUR tonight at 7:30 at USU’s Caine Performance Hall.

“We are playing tunes that are great fun for the members in the band,” said Gregory Wheeler, director of the ensemble group. “The audience was treated with a terrific program.”

Many of the pieces played tonight were jazz standards, such as Dizzy Gillespie’s “In the Land of Oo-bla-dee,” however, FOUR also introduced some new pieces.

I always look forward to playing new song written by our soprano saxophonist Mark Watkins, said Jon Gudmundson, USU’s Jazz Orchestra director and FOUR quartet member. “He always writes music that is very challenging and very rewarding to play.”

“Our group has been together for ten to eleven years,” said Sandon Mayhew, FOUR’s tenor saxophonist, “and we rehearse and perform as often as we are able to.”

FOUR is an internationally known quartet comprised of Brigham Young University-Idaho’s Professor Watkins on soprano and alto saxophone, BYU-Provo’s Professor Ray Smith on alto sax, big band leader Mayhew on tenor saxophone and USU’s Professor Gudmundson on baritone saxophone.

The quartet has traveled worldwide to places such as England, Austria, Thailand and Germany. In 2006, the group released their first CD, “With Friends Like These.” Their second album, “On a Warm Summer’s Evenin’,” was released in 2010.

The group plans to tour Europe during this coming summer, so every opportunity to perform together is welcomed, Gudmundson said.

“I’ve been looking forward to the high level of musicianship of the students and the opportunity to perform and interact with the musicians in your community,” Mayhew said.

More information on the quartet can be found at http://www.fourjazz.com/FOUR_Home_Page.html