By Joshua Le Suer

The Buffalo State College Jazz and Wind Ensemble will be performing in free concerts in the Rockwell Hall auditorium under the direction of Ricky Fleming, the director of bands for the performing arts department. Both bands will perform at 8 p.m., the Wind Ensemble on March 12, the Jazz Ensemble on March 13.

Fleming says the musicians in Wind Ensemble consist of music majors and non-music majors.

"Traditionally, we play wind band and contemporary wind band literature. It's about a 50 member group," he said.

The Wind Ensemble will be performing wind band composers Gustav Holst's 1st Suite in E flat and Vincent Persichetti's Song for Band, as well as a tribute to American music titled "Echoes of the 1860s.

" This last piece is a collection of tunes played during the Civil War,” according to Fleming, “and some of the tunes are actually quite hokey, but they are an important part of our musical development."

The tunes that make up "Echoes of the 1860s" are actually written for brass bands, which are smaller than modern day wind ensemble and concert bands. Some of the music of this suite includes "General Lee's Grand March," "Recruiting Sergeant" and "Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming."

The Jazz Ensemble is an 18-piece big band, made up of music majors and non-majors, as well as people in the community. It will be performing "All of Me," "April and Paris" and "Public Domain."

"All of Me" is a standard jazz tune, and the Jazz Ensemble will be playing big band leader and pianist Count Basie's arrangement of it. "April and Paris" is another big band jazz standard recorded by the Basie orchestra. "Public Domain" is a contemporary piece published by Kendor, a local publishing company.

According to Daniel Slaiman, a percussion major who will be performing in the Wind Ensemble concert, preparing for the concert is a lot of work.

“We just started the 1st semester,” says Slaiman. “Most people think if you're in band, you just get your music and play, you're fine."

"Most people think Wind Ensemble is an easy A class," says Slaiman, "But it's time-consuming for little credit. It's three classes a week for an hour-and-a-half each session, so only the serious musicians want to take it."