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F E AT U RE
Ensembles of the Soul BY BRIAN WHEPLEY
Friends University’s jazz program, like the music itself, is improvising and adapting.
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he group Conjunto Latino, founded in 2020, expands the program’s repertoire by having students dig deep into Latin music, a genre often lumped under the inadequate description of “south of the United States,” said Dr. Nick Schroeder, interim jazz director. A surely incomplete list of Latin styles includes samba, salsa, cumbia, bossa nova, Tejano and mariachi, all threaded with jazz and vice versa. Another surely incomplete list of its homelands includes Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti and Puerto Rico. “It really rounds it out, especially in the jazz side of things,” said Andy Slater, percussion instructor and codirector of Conjunto Latino. He notes “jazz is this ever-changing term,” encompassing hip-hop, electronic music, “any improvised music.” Students in the program earn degrees in music, music performance or music education. Over five dozen Friends students play or sing in Concert Jazz Band, Conjunto Latino, Jazz Vocal Ensemble, SOULstice and Equinox.
