A Multi-Media Celebration

Featuring UR’s Jazz Ensemble

Led by Dr. Mike Davison

Special Guest Artists, Dancers & 

the Cosby High School Marching Titans

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Jepson Theater

Modlin Center for the Arts

7:30PM

Mention jazz, zydeco, blues and brass bands and one thinks of New Orleans. What comes to mind is a musical syncretism that was forged in New Orleans, deeply rooted in African, Cuban, Caribbean and European traditions. Names such as Armstrong, Morton and Marsalis are entrenched in the sound of the Mississippi Delta region, which has spawned a music that is couched in the African American tradition: we call it jazz! Tonight, we will trace the jazz tradition, starting with a funeral dirge that was transformed into the celebratory sounds in the cemeteries of New Orleans. The funeral bands would march the casket from the funeral home to the cemetery, and the bands were followed by a group of dancers called the “Second Line.” The dancers would promenade through the streets of New Orleans, adjacent to the brass bands, to the grave site. A Second Line was a celebration of life but also rooted in Black resistance and liberation. When the body was laid to rest, the music would speed up, called “cutting the body loose,” to mark the transition from mourning to a celebration of the deceased’s life. Jelly Roll Morton, the great ragtime and early jazz pianist, said it best when asked about the tempo change. He said, “We were just so damn glad he was dead!” That might not have been the case, but what we heard from the New Orleans cemeteries was the indistinguishable sound of freedom: we call it jazz! Enjoy the show. 

Notes by Mike Davison

Traditional

Closer Walk 

Cosby Marching Titan Band & FYS Second Line Dancers

Video: Seva Venet Interview in New Orleans

Video: Second Line Dancing in New Orleans

Alan Baylock 

Hullabaloo 

Nick LaRocca (Original Dixieland Jazz Band)

Tiger Rag (Hold that Tiger) 

Bria Skonberg, trumpet, & guest artists

“Joe Primrose” (Irving Mills)

Arr. by Mike Kamuf

St. James Infirmary 
 

“Joe Primrose” (Irving Mills)

Transcr. by Mike Davison

St. James Infirmary 

Bria Skonberg, trumpet

Louis Alter & Eddie DeLange

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? 

Bria Skonberg, trumpet
 Mathis Picard, piano
 Tom Christensen, tenor sax

Cy Coleman & Carolyn Leigh

The Best Is Yet to Come 

Ryan Thompson, vocal

Sid Wyche & Mayme Watts

Alright, OK, You Win 

Ryan Thompson, vocal

Bria Skonberg

So Is the Day 

Bria Skonberg, trumpet & vocal

 Mathis Picard, piano

Consuelo Velázquez

Arr. by Mike Tomaro

Bésame Mucho 

Mark Lusk, trombone

Video: Dizzy Gillespie/Manteca 

Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, & Gil Fuller
Arr. by Mike Tomaro

Manteca 

Willie Roman, Congas

Mike Davison

A Day in the Life 

Tom Christensen, tenor sax

Sonny Bono

The Beat Goes On 

Bria Skonberg, trumpet & vocal
 Mathis Picard, piano
 Tom Christensen, tenor sax

Herbie Hancock

Arr. by Alan Baylock

Chameleon 
 

George Shutack

A Good Night in New Orleans 

Traditional

Arr. by Mike Davison

When the Saints Go Marching In  

Cosby Marching Titan Band

Dr. Andy McGraw, chair of the Music Dept; and our Modlin Center “crew” – Sean, Bri and Kevin. They are always en clave!

Veronica Clinton, music department administrative coordinator. She drives the ‘big bus’!

Thanks to all who shared their pictures with us for the show: Myra Daleng, Bill Hamby, Jose Lorenzo, Ed Tillett and Brian Ross.

To the Cultural Affairs Committee at the University of Richmond for yearly financial support for the show.

To Sage Ober and Kaitlyn van Dyk and the University of Richmond’s Living Learning Program! Thanks for your help with costumes!

To all our guest artists and dancers: You rock!

To my wife, Joyce… my sounding board! (she keeps my feet on the ground!)

To all my UR jazz students! You guys are the best!

Now . . . keep dancin’! Hasta Luego!

Thank you for helping us create a distraction-free experience. Please silence all electronic devices. We also ask that you refrain from taking any photos or videos.