Keyboardist Schroeder to Give Eclectic Concert at Golden West

From funk to fugues, Golden West College instructor Gerry Schroeder will cover it all during his concert Sunday at the school’s Mainstage Theatre, an event he bills as “Some Music With My Friends.”

Quoting the old Duke Ellington line about the two kinds of music, good and bad, the 58-year-old teacher-keyboardist says: “Labels don’t interest me. They’re just to help people in record stores find where to put things.”

With that in mind, Schroeder, a 23-year veteran of the Golden West staff who teaches jazz piano, a course for studio singers and a class called “Singing the Solo Pop Song,” will present an eclectic program that ranges from a Mozart fugue for four hands (done in tandem with Roseanne Wood on a single piano), to a tribute to the late Miles Davis performed by the instructor’s electric band, Whizzard. The emphasis will be on his own compositions.

In between, he’ll perform variations on his piece “Untitled Mass Fragments” for solo voice and piano as well as play “Stella by Starlight” with an acoustic trio that includes saxophonist-composer Tom Kubis and bassist Kevin Axt.

The Davis tribute, entitled “Miles Trials,” is a four-part suite. “I’m not trying to emulate Miles here,” Schroeder says. “The piece doesn’t sound like him at all, but it’s all been triggered by him. He provided the most seminal musical experiences of my life. He was never afraid to try anything.”

Gerry Schroeder appears Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Mainstage Theatre at Golden West College, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. Tickets $8 in advance ($7 for children under 12) and $10 ($9 for children) at the door. (714) 895-8378.