March 30, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Zina L. Carter

               979.532.6417

Wharton County Junior College Band students rehearse for their upcoming show, We Got the Funk, scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the Horton Foote Theatre in the Duson-Hansen Fine Arts Building on the Wharton campus. Pictured, from left, are Angel Ramos of Wallis, Olivia Adams of Bay City and Luis Mirelez of El Campo. 

 

The Wharton County Junior College Jazz Band will close out its spring 2017 season with toe-tapping, beat-laden melodies courtesy of the 1960s funk music movement.

We Got the Funk is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the Horton Foote Theatre in the Duson-Hansen Fine Arts Building on the Wharton campus. The WCJC Jazz Band – a select group drawn from the college’s regular band – will tackle the challenging tunes.

WCJC Band Director Joe Waldrop said funk music – a blend of soul, jazz, rhythm and blues – is difficult due to its 16-note time signature and stress on the first beat of every measure. But he believes his student musicians are up to the task.

“I like the style and wanted to present a concert using it,” Waldrop said. “The word ‘funk’ is derived from the Latin fumigare which means ‘to smoke,’ so we hope to be smoking hot that night.”

Concert selections will include the Jackson Five classic “I Want You Back,” Bruno Mars’s “Uptown Funk” and the theme song from the one-time popular television dance show, Soul Train. Waldrop said he wanted to feature the Soul Train theme since funk music was a key component to the show and allowed many up and coming African American musicians to obtain nationwide exposure.
Waldrop encouraged area residents to come out and enjoy the concert while providing the students with recognition for a lot of hard work.

“This will hopefully be a night of ‘smoking’ music where we will ‘get down with it’ and we hope the audience comes prepared to get down with us,” Waldrop said.

The WCJC Jazz Band will perform We Got the Funk at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the Horton Foote Theatre in the Duson-Hansen Fine Arts Building on the Wharton campus. The concert is open to the public and free of admission.

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