Humanities week is Oct. 8 through 12 and will feature several free performances by OCCC’s student jazz bands, featuring several unique themes.

OCCC jazz band leader Michael Boyle said he has excitement and high expectations for the performances.

“Last year was the first time that OCCC had presented such a celebration,” Boyle said. “It was really successful. We put on two faculty recitals as far as our end of it. One was all classical and one was all jazz. They were the number one and number two most attended events. So our little music department did well on that and we’ve decided to do it again.”

Boyle said this year’s performances are themed.

“The first concert, which is on Tuesday, Oct. 9, we are doing ‘The Jazz of Gatsby’,” Boyle said. “That is in conjunction with the big read. The Big Read is an event that is put on by college libraries nationwide and this year’s Big Read is ‘The Great Gatsby’.”

The jazz band performances will also feature covers by various popular artists like Oklahoma native country music legend Woody Guthrie.

“On Thursday, Oct. 11 we’ll be doing the Woody Guthrie project,” Boyle said. “The Woody Guthrie project is songs by Woody Guthrie interpreted by our faculty and students. Woody wrote nearly a thousand poems that never got set to music. Singers, songwriters, and musicians have been setting his words to music for the last 60 years.

“We’re taking some of those interpretations by, say, Billy Bragg, Wilco and Jonatha Brooke, and we’re going to be doing some of those and some old traditional favorites like “This Land is Your Land” and “Dust Storm Disaster” and all kinds of cool stuff.”

All shows are free and open to the public, Boyle said.

For more information, email Michael Boyle at mboyle@occc.edu.

To contact Paris Burris, email onlineeditor@occc.edu.

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