CREATION OF THE THAD JONES JAZZ ARCHIVE AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY TO BE CELEBRATED IN MUSICAL CEREMONY ON APRIL 25

—Original works by the late, great jazz artist and former director of the William Paterson Jazz Program will be housed at the Cheng Library on campus
—The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra will perform

A ceremony honoring the creation of the Thad Jones Archive at William Paterson University will be held on Thursday, April 25 at 3 p.m. in Shea Center for Performing Arts on the campus in Wayne, N.J. The event will include a special performance by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which was co-founded by Jones and plays an active role in the university’s jazz program.

The event is free and open to the public.

The archive will include the original manuscripts and arrangements of the late Thad Jones, the internationally renowned jazz artist and first director of the William Paterson Jazz Studies Program. Members of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra expressed a desire for the documents to be kept at William Paterson because of the University’s long association with Thad Jones and its reputation as a "true jazz environment." The works will be housed in the David and Lorraine Cheng Library on campus.

"This is a prestigious honor for the music department and the entire University," says James Williams, director of the William Paterson Jazz Studies Program. "Having access to original scores of Thad Jones, with all of the handwritten changes and rewrites, will give our students insight into the creative process of this great jazz arranger. The archive will enable our students to perform the music played by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, now known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, with additions and alterations made by the legendary players who have played those parts for 30 years."

In their final piece to be performed during the ceremony, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra will be joined by the William Paterson Jazz Ensemble to perform Thad Jones’ beautiful ballad "To You," originally written for the only recorded meeting of the Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras.

Thad Jones (1923 –1986) was one of the most creative and prolific figures in jazz. His unique big band arrangements, with their special voicings and unexpected rhythmic turns, became the model for a whole new generation of arrangers. While he was best known as a composer-arranger and co-leader of the famous Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, he was also one of the most respected soloists in jazz, favoring the cornet and flugelhorn over the trumpet.

Jones was the first full-time jazz faculty member at William Paterson and served as director from 1972 to 1979. His teaching expertise, name and reputation attracted the first serious jazz students to the institution, which led to the establishment of its now internationally recognized Jazz Studies Program. William Paterson awarded Thad Jones an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1978.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is in permanent residency at the University, a partnership that gives students an opportunity to perform with the orchestra and benefit from workshops and other cooperative projects.

The Orchestra features such top artists as pianist and composer Jim McNeely, drummer John Riley, baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan, lead trumpeter Earl Gardiner, trombonist John Mosca, and alto saxophonist Dick Oatts. The band regularly delights crowds at the historic Village Vanguard nightclub in New York City, the world famous jazz venue that gave it its name. Many of the orchestra’s members are writers and arrangers as well as musicians. Their credits include dozens of major motion pictures, hundreds of television themes, numerous Broadway shows, and a dazzling array of performances with such greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, and B. B. King, to name a few. Their touring performances have brought big band jazz to every corner of the world.

William Paterson University, one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 30 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the university enrolls approximately 10,500 students and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution’s 363 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program (26 scholars), the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.# # # #

4/12/02
For Further Information, contact:
Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966