The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (formerly known as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra) gave a Vanguard Premiere of Anita's piece, "Remembrance," featuring Dick Oatts on also sax. Although Anita Brown Jazz Orchestra premiered this work as its opening number at the final New York IAJE Conference in 2007, Anita recently dedicated this work to the memory of her dear friend Dennis Irwin, long-time bassist with the VJO. He was instrumental in assisting her thought process by discussing certain concepts with her during late night hangs at The Village Vanguard following the VJO's Monday night sets.
Dennis was in attendance at Anita's IAJE performance. In a subsequent discussion Anita pointed out that "Remembrance" was the piece they had had several discussions about, to which Dennis replied, "I'm hip, I'm hip! Beautiful! And the sound was perfect. Everything was perfectly balanced. I could hear every voice perfectly!"
With Dennis' passing on March 10, 2008, Anita dedicated this piece to Dennis 'Ski' Irwin. Tonight's Vanguard Premiere was the first time it was presented as such.
"Tonight Dennis was with us as I conducted the band for the first time in his physical absence." --AB
