BYU Synthesis Under the direction of Benjamin Nichols Featuring Jennifer Madsen with special guests Brent Edstrom, piano Brian Woodbury, trombone
7:00 PM | OCT. 23, 2026 | CONCERT HALL | MUSIC BUILDING
Bésame Mucho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CONSUELO VELÁZQUEZ AND SUNNY SKYLAR 1920–2005; 1913–2009 arr. Brent Edstrom
Girl Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NEAL HEFTI AND BOBBY TROUP 1922–2008; 1918–1999 arr. Brent Edstrom
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby . . . . . . . JIMMY MCHUGH
AND DOROTHY FIELDS 1894–1969; 1905–1974 arr. Brent Edstrom
You Turn Me On Baby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CY COLEMAN 9
1929-2004 arr. Brent Edstrom
You and the Night and the Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ARTHUR SCHWARTZ
AND HOWARD DIETZ
1900–1984; 1896–1983 arr. Brent Edstrom
There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CY COLEMAN AND DOROTHY FIELDS arr. Brent Edstrom
Misty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JOHNNY BURKE AND ERROL GARNER 1908–1964; 1921–1977 arr. Brent Edstrom
Our Love is Here to Stay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GEORGE AND IRA GERSHWIN Brent Feature
1898–1937; 1896–1983
Minuano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LYLE MAYS AND PAT METHENY Synthesis Feature
1953–2020; b. 1954
Nice Work if You Can Get It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GEORGE AND IRA GERSHWIN arr. Dr. Ben Nichols
My Funny Valentine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RICHARD RODGERS AND LORENZ HART 1902–1979; 1895–1943 arr. Brent Edstrom
Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HAROLD ARLEN AND JOHNNY MERCER 1905–1986; 1909–1976 arr. Brent Edstrom
Comin' Home Baby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BEN TUCKER AND BOB DOROUGH 1930–2013; 1923–2018 arr. Brent Edstrom
The Look of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BURT BACHARACH AND HAL DAVID arr. Brent Edstrom
Spinning Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DAVID CLAYTON-THOMAS arr. Brent Edstrom
SYNTHESIS
Saxophones
Jonathan Crane Jeff Sass Marty Bodell Hyrum Baird Max Smith
Trumpets
Abe Smith Luke Gunnerson Thomas Longhurst Caden Randolph Ila Goodrich
Trombones
Hezekiah Bowden Graeme Clayton Luke Liechty Rees Riska, bass
Rhythm Section
Samuel Handley, guitar Jackson Olsen, piano Asher Robinson, bass Jacob Ward, drums Dallin Jepsen, aux percussion
Biographies Jennifer Madsen is a jazz vocalist, recording artist, producer, and founder of SingBaby Productions. She produces and performs music for jazz ensemble, big band, and symphony orchestra, working with musicians and creative teams in the U.S. and Europe. After twelve years on the voice faculty at Snow College’s Horne School of Music, Jennifer retired from teaching in 2026 to devote her time to recording, producing and performing. Her 2026 release, Girl Talk, is an 11-song big band album arranged by pianist Brent Edstrom, co-produced by Jennifer and Emmy Award-winning composer and producer Sam Cardon, with guest appearances by Sean Jones, Ryan Keberle, and Jeff Coffin. Released by Grand Central Artists with digital distribution through The Orchard, a Sony Music company, the album is currently in the GRAMMY® Awards process for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. “Girl Talk,” arranged by Brent Edstrom and Jennifer Madsen, is also entered for Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals, with the album receiving consideration in the engineering and immersive audio fields. Through SingBaby Productions, Jennifer chooses the repertoire and assembles the arrangers, musicians, engineers, and other artists who shape each recording. In 2026, she also co-produced A Jennifer Madsen Christmas with Sam Cardon and traveled to Prague to record a new orchestral album with the Czech Symphony Orchestra, scheduled for release in 2027. Onstage, Jennifer may be singing with a trio, standing in front of a big band, or performing with a symphony orchestra. The setting changes. Her focus doesn’t: Know what the song is saying, tell the truth of it, and invite the audience into the story.
Tonight brings Jennifer back to where an important part of her musical life began. She sang with BYU Synthesis in 1980 and returns as a guest artist, performing music from Girl Talk with Synthesis under the direction of Ben Nichols.
Brent Edstrom is a pianist, composer, arranger, author, and orchestrator whose career spans jazz performance, publishing, recording, and orchestral composition. He has performed with artists including Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Peter Erskine, Jon Faddis, Lee Konitz, Ernie Watts, Bob Berg, John Clayton, Dee Daniels, and Freda Payne, and has appeared with the Spokane Symphony and Spokane Jazz Orchestra. A prolific arranger and author, Edstrom has created hundreds of published arrangements and more than 100 note-for-note transcriptions of major jazz pianists including Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Kenny Barron. He is the author and arranger of dozens of volumes in Hal Leonard’s Jazz Piano Solos series and has written several books for Oxford University Press. His concert works include two concertos for jazz piano and orchestra and “The Song of the Lark,” a jazz song cycle recorded with Tierney Sutton, Jeff Hamilton, and Jon Hamar. Edstrom holds a master of music in jazz studies and contemporary media from the Eastman School of Music and is professor of music at Whitworth University. A longtime collaborator with Jennifer Madsen, he has served as pianist and arranger for Kick Off the Covers, Reimagine, Girl Talk, A Jennifer Madsen Christmas, and her forthcoming orchestral project.
Dr. Brian Woodbury is the director of jazz studies at Brigham Young University and an in-demand trombonist, composer, and arranger. He has performed with Josh Groban, Johnny Mathis, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The NYChillharmonic, the Brad Leali Jazz Orchestra, the UNC Jazz Festival All-Stars, Joe Gransden, the Drew Zaremba Fellowship, the Steve Lippia Orchestra, the Utah Metropolitan Ballet, Debby Boone, Stockton Helbing, and Porfi Baloa y sus Adolescentes. Dr. Woodbury has recorded with numerous artists and ensembles, including Erin Dickins, Neon Trees, Jason Scheff, Annie Booth, Hot House West, Ryan Haines, Alex Heitlinger, Jay Lawrence, the New Hot Five, Stephanie Mabey, and the One O’Clock Lab Band. He has also been a featured guest artist on recordings by jazz vocalist Jennifer Madsen. His playing can be heard on the soundtracks for Spartacus: House of Ashur, Honor of Kings, LEGO® Fortnite® Star Wars, and The Paradise Planets: The Fallen from Paradise. His 2021 debut album of original compositions, Dream Feeder, is available on all streaming platforms.
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