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CONTACT:
Mary Beth Zeman, 973-720-2444
zemanm@wpunj.edu


February 19, 2008

 

JACQUE JOHNSON TO PERFORM WITH THE WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE DIRECTED BY CHICO MENDOZA ON SUNDAY, MARCH 2

Photo of Jacque Johnson

Vocalist Jacque Johnson will perform with the William Paterson University Latin Jazz Ensemble, directed by Chico Mendoza, as part of the Jazz Room Series on March 2.

The concert will begin at 4 p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on the campus in Wayne.  Prior to the concert, Johnson and Mendoza will be the guests for “Sittin’ In,” an informal discussion about jazz, at 3 p.m. in room 101 of Shea Center.  Admission is free to all Jazz Room ticketholders.

Tickets are available in advance or on the day of the performance at $15 standard; $12 senior citizens, William Paterson faculty, staff and alumni; and $8 for non-William Paterson students. William Paterson students may attend free of charge.

Johnson, a Jersey native who hails from Newark, has an impressive repertoire that spans the jazz and blues spectrum. She has performed the role of Coretta Scott King in the Off-Broadway production of “The Life and Times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Other performances have been with the Shadd Royful Renaissance Orchestra, the Ellington Society, a Mayor David Dinkins Benefit, the Apollo Theater, and the Alberta Hunter Revue. She has opened for the Bobby Blue Bland, Ray Charles, and Joan Rivers, among others.

A member of William Paterson’s adjunct jazz faculty, Latin jazz great Chico Mendoza has performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, with George Benson and Stanley Turrentine at Newark Symphony Hall, as well as numerous clubs and colleges. His fourth album, el Sonida, received a Latin Grammy nomination in 1979. For years, he was the host of the acclaimed “Salsa Meets Jazz” series at the Village Gate in New York City.

Now in its 30th year of exciting performances, the Jazz Room is one of the largest and most prestigious college-sponsored jazz events in the country. Performers include renowned professionals who encompass the complete spectrum of jazz, from practitioners of traditional jazz to avant-garde to bebop to swing to Afro-Latin jazz, as well as William Paterson’s own student ensembles.  The series has won numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for its innovative programming.

Funding for The Jazz Room at William Paterson University has been made possible, in part, by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State.

For tickets or information, call the Shea Center for Performing Arts Box Office at 973-720-2371.

 

NOTE: High resolution, downloadable photographs are available at http://ww2.wpunj.edu/publicityphotos/Jazz/JazzRoomSeries/Jacque_Johnson.jpg

 

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