Ithaca College Concerts to Present Vocal Jazz Ensemble SoVoSó

The Ithaca College Concerts season continues on Sunday, November 12, with a performance by SoVoSó, a six-member a cappella jazz ensemble that Bobby McFerrin has called "tight, soulful, and a whole lotta fun." This is the second of three concerts in the "Best of Class" 2000–2001 series, which features outstanding performers from three different musical genres. SoVoSó will begin its concert at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall, James J. Whalen Center for Music. A free pre-concert lecture will be presented by Lauri Keegan, musical director of the Ithaca College Vocal Jazz Ensemble, at 7:30 p.m. in the Iger Lecture Hall in the Whalen Center.

Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the Clinton House ticket center or at Rebop Records, Tapes, and Compact Discs in Collegetown. Tickets will also be sold at the door if seats are available. Call 274-3171 for more information.

Prices are as follows:

• children, senior citizens, Ithaca College students––$9
• Ithaca College alumni, faculty, and staff; Friends of Ithaca College; other students––$15
• general public––$18

Originally assembled in 1986 by composer and performer Bobby McFerrin as Voicestra, SoVoSó ("from the soul to the voice to the song") has evolved into a unique vocal orchestra that draws on a global perspective. Eclectic and creative, the six dynamic musicians who make up SoVoSó perform music that represents their diverse backgrounds in jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, world music, pop, improvisational music, and Afro-Latin idioms. Able to transform itself into a vocal orchestra, SoVoSó combines beautiful harmonies and intricate melodies with unique guitar- or horn-like riffs and vocal percussion.

"These singers explore totally new depths of what the human vocal chords are capable of doing," wrote a reviewer in Jazz Review. "You will definitely want to experience this vocal world of rhythmic and harmonious bliss."

Three SoVoSó members — Joey Blake, Melanie Rath, and David Worm — were members of McFerrin’s original group and performed with him until 1993. A year later the group renamed itself and shaped its own musical style. Sunshine Garcia, Destani Wolf, and Norman Pitters are the sextet’s most recent additions.

In 1997 the group’s album SoVoSó: World Jazz A Cappella received a Contemporary a Cappella Recording Award for best studio album and was nominated for five additional honors: best male and female vocalists, best original pop song, best pop song cover, and best gospel song. Also in 1997 SoVoSó was named national champion at the Harmony Sweepstakes a Cappella Festival, an annual nationwide competition for a cappella groups. Other Harmony Sweepstakes honors that year included audience favorite and best arrangement.

For more information on SoVoSó visit www.singers.com/jazz/SoVoSo.html.

The "Best of Class" series will conclude on Tuesday, March 20, with a performance by the Musicians from Marlboro, a chamber ensemble. The group’s web site is www.marlboromusic.org.

For more information regarding the concert schedule, visit the School of Music web page at www.ithaca.edu/music.