Music is an important way in which musicians can share their passion and enrich the lives of others. This is the case for members of the SaddleBrooke Winds and Strings concert band.
The group will perform its next concert “Images and Impressions” on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the DesertView Performing Arts Center.
The program features a diversity of pieces, which could be grouped as “tone poems,” or works that convey images.
This includes two marches, “The Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa and “Totem Pole” by Eric Osterling. “Chorale and Shaker Dance II” by John Zdechlik is based on Appalachian folk tunes. “Byzantine Dances” by Carol Brittin Chambers is dedicated to Turkish wedding music.
“Folksongs for Band Suite” by Erik Leidzen features music from the United States, Ireland, Great Britain and Italy.
The concert band will bring cinematic music with “Into the Storm” by Robert W. Smith and an arrangement of “Disney at the Movies” by John Higgins.
An arrangement of “Duke Ellington in Concert” by Paul Murtha includes “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Mood Indigo,” Caravan” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”
Toward the end of the concert, the band will play an arrangement of “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky.
Conductor Jesus Jacquez said members of SaddleBrooke Winds have enjoyed the variety of music.
“It’s a big variety of music. That’s what’s extra exciting for us as we’re working on it because one minute we’ll be playing this gorgeous hymn, and the next we’ll be snapping and clapping to Turkish wedding music,” Jacquez said.
The music will be accompanied by videos and images.
“For ‘Chorale and Shaker Dance,’ one of the first pieces where we’re bringing in a video, we actually have footage of the original Shaker Dances,” Jacquez said.
“People will actually be able to see and experience what that looks like, what that felt like. During ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,’ we’ll be playing pictures from the original gallery that Modest Mussorgsky saw that inspired him to write the piece.
“One of our pieces we’re playing is ‘Disney at the Movies.’ That’s all film music. We’ll be projecting scenes that that music would have played over… For one piece in particular, the ‘Totem Pole’ march, we’re doing AI-generated media. Some of it can be pretty strange, and it’s an abstract concept… It’s about the Canadian forest and totem poles.”
The concert band will perform with 20 members of the SaddleBrooke Singers on an arrangement of “Dona Nobis Pacem” by Thomas Doss.
During the concert, the musicians will all be wearing polo shirts in different colors of the rainbow. The choir will be performing in all-white attire.
Jacquez hopes to add visual elements more during SaddleBrooke Winds concerts.
“We’re playing the music to the absolute highest degree of quality and performance standards, but I want to offer the audience more. They’re not just plugging in their phone and listening to a recording on Spotify or YouTube. The audience is actually at a venue to see a performance. I want to give them an experience,” Jacquez said.
SaddleBrooke residents started the concert band, which is open to string players, in 2013.
In the beginning, rehearsals took place in residents’ homes.
Over the years, the group has performed in retirement communities, Catalina State Park and Mountain View Ballroom.
The upcoming concert is its first at the DesertView Performing Arts Center.
SaddleBrooke Winds is made up of musicians in their 40s to 90s from SaddleBrooke and surrounding areas.
They have various levels of experience playing their instruments. Some musicians were in military bands or served as band directors while others are just learning to play their instruments.
“It’s this huge mix of people from all walks of life,” Jacquez said.
“I want to keep it like that. I want to make sure this group is open and accessible. Even though the music is performed at a very high level, even if you are coming in unsure or not as proficient on your instrument, we’re a welcoming group. We’ll help you through it. We’ll teach you as we go.”
Jacquez took over as conductor last September, and his first concert with the group was in December.
When he started with the group, they had around 19 people. It has grown to around 50 members.
“As we have gained more traction, people are hearing about it and inviting their friends,” he said.
“We’re still looking for musicians. We’re at no shortage of flutes, but we’re looking for clarinet players, and we’re looking for a tuba player as well. Besides that, the group is filling out really nicely. I can really see us being a full symphonic band by the end of this year. There is an ebb and flow to amount of people just because of snowbirds and because it’s such a large retirement community. We’re smaller in the summer and bigger in the winter and in the spring. But that doesn’t really affect us too much, or at least not how I plan to run it. We’re changing the repertoire according to who’s in the group.”
The group is also looking for more percussionists and horn players.
Born and raised in Tucson, Jacquez attended University High School. He earned a degree in music education, entrepreneurship and finance from the UA. He minored in conducting and Spanish.
Jacquez plays the clarinet with Arizona Symphonic Winds, Sonora Winds and the Tucson Concert Band. He also serves in educational services for the Instrumental Music Center.
He recently received a graduate teaching assistantship with the UA and will be starting a wind conducting program in the fall.
The UA offers the Tucson New Horizons Band program, through which adults over 50 can take lessons, learn instruments for the first time and perform for audiences. A number of SaddleBrooke Winds players started out in this program, which is offered for different levels.
Jacquez has plans for SaddleBrooke Winds to collaborate with the UA moving forward.
Before joining SaddleBrooke Winds, Jacquez taught orchestra, jazz band, choir, band, color guard and marching band at Pueblo High School.
During his six years at the school, the music program grew from 17 to over 225 students.
At the school, he really tries to foster a joy and love of music. He hopes to continue to do this with SaddleBrooke Winds.
“I was in a very combative community. They were very anti-music. It was very low-income, so a lot of parents didn’t see the value in having music in the community. To combat that, we would have these huge spectaculars, just like I’m doing with SaddleBrooke, where it was a huge variety, and we would bring in multimedia, actors and singers to really engage the audience. That broke through the mold, and now that community is flourishing. I’m hoping to bring a similar element to SaddleBrooke. It doesn’t matter if you’re a high school student or retired, music is accessible to everyone,” Jacquez said.
