Author: Sharon Fletcher Jones
January 25, 2018
Welcome to Orlando!
Join the HAPCO Foundation on Saturday, February 3rd at 6:30 p.m. for its Winter Jazz Night Concert 2018. This highly anticipated event will take place at Ocoee High School, 1925 Ocoee Crown Point Parkway, Ocoee, Florida (34761). This year’s concert will feature The Flying Horse Big Band, directed by Jeff Rupert, the Ocoee High School Jazz Band, directed by Bernie Hendricks, and host Sterling Stevenson.
HAPCO Music Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is “Building futures through music and education for deserving youths”. The foundation believes for many young people, the arts are the key to opening the door to prosperous and productive futures. HAPCO’s programs give disadvantaged youth direct access to the arts, offering educational opportunities and exposure to top programs and talent. Through the Kenneth R. Tolbert Scholarship Fund, HAPCO creates programs and projects to impact youth in the Orlando community and beyond.
HAPCO funds projects that assist youth seeking a career in the arts as well as those using their talents to fund their own higher education. Programs emphasize mentoring by industry professionals, giving young people inroads into community networks. They also provide special programs that encourage and support active senior living.
About The Flying Horse Big Band
The Flying Horse Big Band is one of the premiere performing ensembles of the UCF Music Department. It has appeared at the Montreux, Switzerland, and the North Sea Jazz Festivals, as well as numerous festival and concert appearances domestically. The group has had four recordings on the national jazz charts, B.M.O.C, Into the Mystic, The Blues is Alright and Jazz Town, all released on UCF’s record label, Flying Horse Records.
The band has featured some of the recording industry’s best including Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Michael Mossman, James Moody, Nick Brignola, Harry Allen, Steve Turre, Rodney Holmes, Terry Gibbs, Marvin Stamm, Mulgrew Miller, John Swana, Kevin Mahogany, Lou Donaldson and Eric Alexander. In 2005 the UCF Jazz Ensemble premiered Sam Rivers’ work for double big band with Rivers’ RIVBEA orchestra. Some former members of the band are now performing on the Grammy’s and other television shows out of Los Angeles, California. Several others are helping to mold future professional musicians as they are now professors teaching at universities around the country.
