WICA pairs Bond’s ‘Goldfinger’ with 007-inspired concert

Published 1:32 pm Thursday, March 20, 2008

Jazz, like James Bond, can have a deadly swagger, a cool and dangerous quality that led Duke Ellington to supposedly compare the music to a man you don’t want messing around with your daughter.

It’s fitting, then, that a jazz ensemble will be covering music from the blockbuster film series.

On Saturday, the South Whidbey High School jazz ensemble plans to play music from the Bond films during an evening concert at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley.

After a showing of “Goldfinger,” the jazz ensemble intends to weave together themes from “Live and Let Die” and “Nobody Does It Better” with other selections, including genre-appropriate pieces from “The Incredibles” and “Peter Gunn.”

Conductor Chris Harshman said the bold music is well-suited to the ensemble, an award-winning group of 19 high school students.

Bond “doesn’t always do things by the book, but, boy, does he get results,” Harshman said. “He’s very effective. The music has that too. There’s that kind of cut-loose thing, but it’s tight and really well written.”

WICA invited the jazz band back to perform after a sold-out show in 2007 illustrated the students’ ability to draw a paying crowd.

While the 2007 concert served as a stand-alone show, the “Goldfinger” concert will fold into the center’s double-feature series, a program that on Saturday begins with a 2 p.m. movie matinee and ends with the 7:30 p.m. concert.

“Anytime we can have the high school jazz band in this series, I think we’re going to build something around it,” said Stacie Burgua, the art center’s executive director. “These kids are phenomenal.”

They better be, given the window of time they have to prepare. Harshman was still nailing down a set list three weeks before the show, as pieces of music arrived via FedEx. While the short time span might intimidate lesser musicians, his ensemble sounded confident. The group practices daily.

“We’re pretty good at getting things down,” said Jeff Potter, an 18-year-old alto saxophonist. “It’s a lot of individual work that we have to do. And it helps that we all know the songs.”

“That’s true,” said Sean Hough, a fellow senior on baritone sax. “It’s much easier to learn than something you’ve never heard before.”

The most familiar versions of the songs, of course, aren’t jazz renditions. Usually, they’re rock: Paul and Linda McCartney wrote “Live and Let Die,” a song further popularized by Guns N’ Roses. Carly Simon sang “Nobody Does It Better.”

The arrangements used by the ensemble should play to the students’ strengths, however, incorporating saxophone, trombone, trumpet, drums, guitar and keyboard.

“There’s a real sort of style and intention to what’s going in the music, and there’s a lot of flair too,” Harshman said.

Along with the concert, the showing of “Goldfinger” — from 1964, starring Sean Connery and considered one of the best in the 21-movie series — could help round out the day. Together, the two provide sax and sex appeal.

“We want it to be a series that has balance,” Burgua said, “a little something for everybody.”

Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or e-mail arathbun@heraldnet.com.