Two concerts highlight July 4 festivities; Little Phat Band headlines the evening show
By Jim Flint for Ashland.news
Ashland is once again doubling down on its Fourth of July soundtrack, with hometown favorites playing in the park by day and a powerhouse performance by American Band College musicians lighting up the stadium by night.
Few traditions capture the spirit of Independence Day quite like a band concert — stirring marches, familiar melodies, and the shared experience of music in the open air. In Ashland, that tradition is alive and well, offering a reminder that music remains a powerful way to bring people together.
Ashland City Band
Kicking off the after-parade activities in Lithia Park will be a free performance by the Ashland City Band at the Butler Bandshell. The concert will start at about 11:30 a.m.
The 70-member band is directed by Alexander Gonzalez. He is the director of bands at Southern Oregon University and director of the Rogue Valley Symphonic Band. Ashland is the only city in the Pacific Northwest with a municipal band for more than 90 years.
The July 4 program will include marches, patriotic numbers, big-band jazz, the national anthems of America and Mexico, and an armed forces salute — including the new Space Force March.
The concert will feature a special arrangement by Jerry Bilik of “American Civil War Fantasy, with Bob Jackson Miner, dressed as Abraham Lincoln, reciting the Gettysburg Address.
Two John Philip Sousa marches conclude the program: “Semper Fidelis” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
The Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps will follow the Ashland City Band in the bandshell about 1:30 p.m. Around 2 p.m., Nina and the Notes, an R&B/soul cover band, will take the Butler Bandshell stage.
Under the stars
Headlining American Band College’s Fourth of July concert is Gordon Goodwin’s Little Phat Band, composed of members of Goodwin’s award-winning Big Phat Band.
The concert will be performed at Ashland High School Stadium, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at bandworld.org/abc/tickets.htm, and at the door, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Prices are $19 for adults, $15 for students and senior citizens and $50 for a family.
“Big Phat Band is one of the most exciting large jazz ensembles on the planet,” said Scott McKee, CEO of ABC. The ABC is a band directors’ master’s degree program founded by his father, Max McKee, decades ago.
“Little Phat Band is a smaller version of the large ensemble they take on the road,” Scott McKee said.
Top L.A. musicians
Populated by some of L.A.’s best players, it takes the big-band tradition into the new millennium with a contemporary, highly original sound. Goodwin writes witty, intricate and hard-swinging compositions in a grab bag of styles, including Latin, blues, classical and rock.
The senior McKee developed ABC when he was with Southern Oregon University. It now operates under the auspices of Central Washington University in Ellensburg.
The master’s degree program includes a two-week summer residency in Ashland where students, mostly working band directors, participate in intensive clinics, rehearsals, conducting instruction and ensemble performances — including two public concerts in late June and July 4.
This year marked a milestone as ABC awarded its first Max and Nell McKee American Band College Lifetime Service Award to Tim Lautzenheiser and Paula Crider. Lautzenheiser, a longtime university band director, has been involved as a guest faculty member since ABC’s first year in 1989. Crider is an internationally recognized guest conductor, lecturer and clinician. She has participated as a guest conductor and conducting assessment ABC faculty member since 2010.
CEO McKee is the organizing director of the Western International Band Clinic and director of the Eugene Symphonic Band.
Playing the hits
“We are excited to welcome 183 students from 38 states and three foreign countries this year,” McKee said.
“We’re in our 37th year, with more than 1,400 graduates from nearly every state and 18 foreign countries.”
Little Phat Band will perform some of its biggest hits during the concert.
“We’ll feature them, along with the ABC band, on ‘Hunting Wabbits,’ ‘The Jazz Police,’ ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and ‘A Few Good Men,’” McKee said.
The 183-strong ABC band will play some of the standard band literature, including Morton Gould’s “American Salute,” “A Bernstein Tribute,” “America the Beautiful,” and John Philip Sousa’s “Semper Fidelis.”
McKee will be joined by several guest conductors in leading the band from the podium.
“We think the Fourth of July performance will be really fun for concertgoers,” he said.
With stirring sounds from morning to night, Ashland’s Fourth of July delivers a full day of music that celebrates both community and country. Whether you’re enjoying marches in the park or jazz under the stars, it’s a tradition that continues to strike the right note.
Freelance writer Jim Flint is a retired newspaper publisher and editor. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.
