Bob Lark’s Alumni Big Band concerts

About Bob Lark’s Alumni Big Band

Bob Lark’s Alumni Big Band is a Chicago jazz orchestra led by trumpeter and flugelhorn player Bob Lark. Its central draw is an unusually specific one: the group assembled musicians from Lark’s DePaul University big bands, then put their collective experience into dense ensemble charts and featured solo space. The 2012 debut, Reunion, brought together 22 alumni for Lark originals arranged with help from former students.

From DePaul bands to an alumni orchestra

The band formed in Chicago in 2012 around Lark’s long tenure directing DePaul’s jazz program. Its founding recorded lineup comprised Lark on trumpet and flugelhorn plus 22 former DePaul big-band musicians, including saxophonists Jon Irabagon, Scott Burns, Chris Madsen and Ted Hogarth; trombonists Tim Coffman, Craig Sunken and Thomas Matta; bassists, pianists, guitar, drums and vibraphone. Reunion, issued by Jazzed Media in 2012, served as the first release and gave the alumni project a defined book of originals and arrangements.

Two records, one deep book

Reunion (2012, Jazzed Media) established the project’s working method: Lark supplied 11 compositions, while six alumni handled arrangements. The record moves through “Mad Dan’s,” “Until You,” “Roatan,” “First Steps,” “Cathy’s Song,” “Abruzzi,” “Suggestions,” “Ravenswood,” “Winter’s Touch” and “Tango Caliente.” That sequence gives a prospective attendee a useful map of the band’s range: bossa color on “Abruzzi,” a Latin charge on “Tango Caliente,” and a flugelhorn ballad vehicle in “Winter’s Touch.” The personnel also makes clear that this is an orchestra designed around individual voices within a large brass-and-reed frame, including dual drummers Dana Hall and Bob Rummage across the session.

Sweet Return (2014, Jazzed Media) expanded the repertoire beyond Lark’s originals. Its ten tracks combine “Una Mas,” “Bye, Bye Blackbird,” Gil Evans’s arrangement of “The Maids of Cadiz,” “Take the ‘A’ Train,” Cole Porter’s “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” Jimmy Rowles’s “The Peacocks,” and the Monk-linked “Just You, Just Me/Evidence,” alongside Lark’s “Rum Point,” “A Narrow Path” and “Old School.” The change lies in the arranging lens: Thomas Matta, Andrew Janak, Pete Benson and Paul McKee recast familiar tunes while preserving room for Lark, Scott Burns, Chris Madsen, Randy Hamm, Coffman and other featured players. “The Peacocks,” an extended slow piece, shows the book’s patience alongside its swing material.

The alumni network in the charts

This ensemble’s collaboration story is inseparable from Lark’s teaching career. Former students assisted with Reunion’s arrangements, and Sweet Return draws on arrangements by Matta, Janak, Benson and McKee. The 2016 Midwest Clinic program further shows the band carrying that collaborative book into performance, with arrangements by Chris Madsen, Joe Clark, Darrell Wyatt, Matta, Dan Jonas and Gil Evans. Lark’s wider Jazzed Media work includes recordings with Phil Woods, Rufus Reid and Jim McNeely, placing the alumni band beside a broader set of leader projects.

What the local record says about the show

The documented live pattern centers on Chicago, especially Jazz Showcase at 806 South Plymouth Court. Listings place the band there for two sets at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on March 10, 2020; November 30, 2022; and March 3, 2025: three separately documented Jazz Showcase engagements across five years. A 2016 Midwest Clinic appearance in Ballroom W196 used a program balancing standards such as “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Well, You Needn’t” and “Una Mas” with Lark pieces including “A Narrow Path,” “Cathy’s Song” and “First Steps.” Taken together, those records point to a repertoire-first presentation: arranged ensemble passages, named soloists and a book flexible enough for both jazz-club sets and conference-ballroom programs.

The August date

The most recent album in the group’s available release record is Sweet Return, released November 11, 2014. The next CrowdMate listing is Monday, August 31, 2026, at Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago, with 6:00 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. performances. Andy’s operates at 11 East Hubbard Street and schedules its evening shows in those time slots, making this a concise two-show Chicago engagement instead of a touring-package stop.

Start here

Start with “Tango Caliente” for the Latin-oriented force of Reunion; “Winter’s Touch” for Lark’s flugelhorn in ballad form; and “The Peacocks” for Sweet Return’s extended, harmonically detailed pace.

Sources

1. Bob Lark Alumni Big Band — Jazz Showcase
2. Reunion – Bob Lark and his Alumni Big Band Review — All About Jazz
3. Sweet Return – Bob Lark and his Alumni Big Band Review — All About Jazz
4. Bob Lark and His Alumni Big Band Concert Program, December 16, 2016 — The Midwest Clinic
5. JazzGram, March 2020 — Jazz Institute of Chicago
6. Dearborn Express, November 30, 2022 — Dearborn Express
7. Andy's Jazz Club — Andy's Jazz Club
8. Sweet Return — Apple Music
9. Bob Lark and his Alumni Big Band – Reunion – Jazzed Media — Audiophile Audition