Stan’s Gang Takes Five

A new generation of musicians shared a bill with a four-plus-decade ensemble as jazz replaced legal argument in the Yale Law School auditorium.

The occasion was Sunday afternoon’s eighth annual Stan Wheeler Memorial Jazz Concert.

The concert each year brings together the Yale Jazz Ensemble, students conducted by Thomas C. Duffy; with the Reunion Jazz Ensemble, including a number of New Haven area jazz stalwarts.

The two groups have a muse in common: the late Stan Wheeler, a Yale law professor who spent 30 years playing trumpet with Yale’s ensemble. Wheeler was also a stalwart of the Reunion Jazz Ensemble (including some of New Haven’s most established jazz performers) as well as a pioneering legal thinker and researcher. Both groups have gathered each year since his 2007 death to pay tribute to him — and pick up their horns and guitars and drumsticks to delight the crowd that gathers in the auditorium.

At the suggestion of Yale Law Dean Robert Post, Reunion added a number to its playlist: ​“Take Five.” After a few verses, soloist Tim Moran made the classic tune his own. (Click on the video to watch.)

Moran carried out alto-sax duties for the concert …

… local legend Jeff Fuller (who has a new CD out), the bass …

… Paul Sullivan, piano …

… Paul Lieberman, tenor sax (with a turn on flute) …

… Tony Lombardozzi, guitar …

… and Steve Perrett on trumpet, in a set that ranged from Duke Ellington to Brubeck to Latin and Brazilian numbers.

Wheeler’s old trumpet, meanwhile, sat perched behind Perrett’s shoulder, a reminder of a cherished voice they were determined to keep alive.