Jazz Band to Kick Off Summer Concert Series

When the Montville Recreation Department's Summer Concert series begins its 2011 lineup on July 7, there will be a familiar face leading the Metropolitan Saxophone Quartet:  Michael Cardillo. 

As a child, he used to play at the Community Park Ampitheater with the Jackonsville Chapel Band.  Now, as an adult, and along with his three band-mates, he’ll start the summer with a mix of big band, jazz, and pop music.

Three of the four members of the Metropolitan Saxophone Quartet [or MSQ] met while they were all studying music at Rutgers University.  

“Andrew Lopez and John BiEgidio were musical education undergraduates while I was getting my Master’s Degree in Conducting,” Cardillo said.  “Then, we added Erik Donough in 2009, and we have been playing together ever since.”  

The group is comprised of all music teachers in the New Jersey Education System.  Donough, the soprano saxophone, is a music teacher at Wyckoff Middle School in Wyckoff.  Lopez, who plays the alto sax, is an Assistant Band Director at Sparta High School; both BiEgidio, baritone sax, and Cardillo, tenor, are band directors at Mount Olive High School and Winston Churchill Elementary School in Fairfield, respectively.    

MSQ performs two different sets, depending on the venue:  the mix that Thursday’s concert will feature, which is a staple for town concerts, and classical saxophone music, a set that changes with each new performance.

“We’ll be playing Glen Miller, Duke Ellington, and represent all of the big jazz names,” Cardillo said.  “We add some other songs like The Beatles’ ‘When I’m Sixty Four’ and Jason Mraz’s ‘I’m Yours’.  We choose songs that make the audience feel young again.  By performing these songs, we found a way to please the people we play for.”

Another pop song that the band plays is “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, which was arranged for the saxophone by Donough.

“We performed at a wedding, and the bride asked us to play that song ['Viva La Vida'] as she walked down the aisle.”

MSQ’s second set is a classical set that includes five songs that change year-to-year, and is intended to showcase classical saxophone music for the college students.  These sets last for 1 ½ hour.

Don’t expect MSQ to get any stage-fright or pre-concert jitters, because Cardillo is playing in front of familiar faces, like Don Amori, who organized the Jackonsville Chapel Band.  The group has performed at plenty of town concerts like the opening for the Community Lake in Lincoln Park and 4H Fair in Somerset, amongst others.     

“Don Amori is bringing all of the people that I have played with and been taught by over the years,” Cardillo said.  “It will be so much fun to have so many familiar faces in the audience.”

The band also has two CDs for sale:  “Holiday Classics," which was released in 2009, and “Close Enough," an all jazz and pop album released in March of this year.  

The concert goes from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 7 at the Community Park Ampitheater.

For more information on the concert series, see the township's website.