DuPage Community Jazz Ensemble

About the Ensemble: DuPage Community Jazz Ensemble performs dances and concert programs during the academic year as well as numerous off-campus performances. Its repertoire spans more than a century of large jazz ensemble compositions, including original work from members of the ensemble. The ensemble is a frequent presence at the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival, has performance at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, and in 2004 was recognized by the United States House of Representatives for its work on behalf of the Armed Forces Children’s Education Fund. Music 1181, Community Jazz Ensemble, is a course at COD open to any musician interested in the American musical performance tradition.

About the Director: Tom Tallman is professor of Music and director of Jazz Ensembles at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, a position he has held since 1990. Since 1998, his commissioned compositions and arrangements for jazz ensemble and concert band have been performed by numerous middle school, high school, community and professional ensembles in the Chicago metropolitan region. He has worked as a clinician and judged a variety of competitions in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, and is a two-time ILMEA director at the District level. His latest recording credit is with The Jeff Benedict Big Band on the CD Holmes(Maroon Creek Music, 2014), and he contributed to Volume 2 of Teaching Music through Performance in Jazz (GIA Publications, 2015).