The EIU Jazz Ensemble will close out the semester with one last big band bang at Tuesday’s concert.

The ensemble, under the direction of Sam Fagaly, will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Building. The concert is free and open to the public.

Fagaly said the ensemble will play a variety of big band music as well as some holiday music.

The music will range from the classic swing tune “Nice and Easy,” as played by the Count Basie Orchestra, to the more modern tune “81” by Miles Davis and Ron Carter, he said.

The concert will also feature faculty jazz pianist Michael Stryker and a number of student soloists, Fagaly said.

Among those student soloists is Woods Miller III, a senior music education major, who will perform for the last time with the band at Tuesday’s concert.

Miller, to be featured on trumpet in “Nice and Easy,” said the Jazz Ensemble is his favorite of the eight Eastern music groups he has performed with because of the high level of playing.

“It’s the most exciting group that I’ve played with,” he said. “There’s a lot of intensity involved. From the first time I saw them my first year here, it was a goal of mine to get in that group.”

He said this is his first and last time being featured as a soloist in the ensemble, and it feels great to finally have the chance to perform a solo.

Miller will student-teach in the fall, but he has enjoyed his year-long experience of playing with the ensemble.

“It’s exciting and fun music to play, and I love it very much,” he said.