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GEOFF KEEZER TO PERFORM
AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY'S JAZZ ROOM SERIES William Paterson University
continues its fall 2001 Jazz Room Series on Sunday, October 21 with Geoff
Keezer, a technically brilliant jazz player who was only 17 when he became
the last pianist with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. The concert will begin at 4
p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on the campus in Wayne. Tickets
are available in advance or on the day of the performance at $12 standard;
$10 for senior citizens and William Paterson community; $6 for children
12 years and under and William Paterson students. A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
where both his parents taught music, Keezer began studying piano at age
3 and became hooked on jazz as a teenager. In 1987 he won a Young Talent
Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators, and he caught
the attention of pianist James Williams who offered him encouragement
and guidance. He was only 17 when he became the last pianist with Art
Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Since Blakey's death, Keezer has recorded steadily
as a leader for Sunnyside, Blue Note, DIW/Columbia and Sackville, and
played on records led by Art Farmer, Roy Hargrove and Antonio Hart, among
others. Keezer will be the guest for
"Sittin’ In," an informal discussion with the artists presented
before the concert. The talk begins at 3 p.m. in room 101 of Shea Center.
Admission is free to all Jazz Room ticketholders. Launched in the spring of 1978,
William Paterson’s Jazz Room Series has earned a reputation for presenting
concerts by eminent musicians in the jazz world. The series has been awarded
numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey
State Council on the Arts, and Citations of Excellence from the Council
for its cultural contribution to the state. This program was made possible
in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department
of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. For additional information, please call William Paterson’s Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
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