NEC Jazz Orchestra: The Music of Anna Webber and Angela Morris

In 2015, Anna Webber and Angela Morris brought together their arsenal of skills as composers-performers-conductors to form the Webber/Morris Big Band, an ensemble of eighteen stellar New York improvisers who bring their combined artistic vision into reality. Their debut album, Both Are True, was named as one of the top 10 jazz albums of 2020 by the New York Times. Their music, though scored for traditional jazz big band, is rooted in minimalism, noise, pop, and the sounds of today. Integrating improvisation and composed material in unorthodox ways and using extra-musical sources - such as poetry or mathematics – here the traditional big band sound mutates into something unpredictable and exciting. In this concert at Jordan Hall, Webber and Morris will conduct the NEC Jazz Orchestra playing the repertoire of the Webber/Morris Big Band. Webber serves as Co-chair of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department along with Ken Schaphorst.