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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY TO PRESENT EIGHTH ANNUAL "JAZZ IT UP!" FESTIVAL --Free festival features exceptional jazz artists in concert from July 23 to 28 Steve LaSpina and Friends, summer jazz faculty at William Paterson University in Wayne, will kick off a noteworthy series of jazz concerts during the University's "Jazz It Up!" festival. The eighth annual event is slated for July 23 to 28. Other performers include clarinetist Ron Odrich, singer Vanessa Rubin, drummer Matt Wilson, the Curtis Fuller Sextet, and a special appearance for children by the Blackman Brothers. The series features concerts every evening at 7:30 p.m. from Monday, July 23 through Friday, July 27 in Shea Center on campus. The festival also includes an 11 a.m. workshop for children with the Blackman Brothers on Wednesday, July 25, a special noon-time concert at the Newark Museum in Newark on Friday, July 27, and the final concert of the University's Summer Jazz Improvisation Workshop at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 28. All events are free and open to the public. "Jazz It Up!," which has drawn thousands of jazz fans to the University's campus during the past seven summers, is designed to make jazz more accessible to the community. William Paterson has been a flagship of jazz education for more than 25 years through its internationally known Jazz Studies Program, and its nationally acclaimed Jazz Room Series of concerts each fall and spring. The festival opens on Monday, July 23 with Steve LaSpina and Friends. LaSpina leads on bass with Jim McNeely on piano, David Demsey on saxophones and Rich DeRosa on drums. LaSpina has toured and recorded with Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Joe Williams and many other top artists and has produced numerous solo recordings with his own group and as a sideman. Jim McNeely, pianist, composer and arranger, tours with the Stan Getz Quartet, Joe Henderson, and Dave Liebman. Demsey is a jazz and classical saxophonist whose performances include gigs with Clark Terry, Milt Hinton, Rufus Reid and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. DeRosa is a drummer, composer and arranger who has performed and recorded with Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, Marian McPartland and many others. On Tuesday, July 24, clarinetist Ron Odrich claims the spotlight. Odrich has played and recorded with Clark Terry, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Phil Woods, and Buddy De Franco, to name a few. His album, "Blackstick," received a four star rating in "Downbeat" magazine. The Blackman Brothers offer an entertaining and interactive look at the world of jazz in their "Journey into Jazz" program on Wednesday, July 25. The 11 a.m. workshop designed to introduce elementary school children to the world of jazz. That evening, singer Vanessa Rubin teams up with the up-and-coming members of the William Paterson Summer Big Band directed by Stephen Marcone, chair of the William Paterson Music Department. Williams, an extraordinary jazz vocalist, has just completed her seventh album, "Girltalk," which is scheduled for a September release. Drummer and composer Matt Wilson takes the stage with his group, Arts and Crafts, on Thursday, July 27. The group features the stellar lineup of Terell Stafford on trumpet and fluegelhorn, David Berkman on piano and Dennis Irwin on bass. Wilson, as a sideman, has over 80 albums to his credit. Curtis Fuller brings this year's festival to a close on Friday, July 27 with two high-powered performances by his all-star sextet -- at noon in the garden of the Newark Museum in Newark, and at 7:30 p.m. in Shea Center. Fuller, a trombone virtuoso, lived through the highs and lows of jazz in the second half of the last century. He takes his hard bop sextet to new heights in this new century. The festival is being held in conjunction with the University's Summer Jazz Improvisation Workshop for high school and college students, featuring seven intense days of morning classes, afternoon performance sessions and clinics with jazz artists. On Saturday, July 28, at 1 p.m. in Shea Center, the workshop will conclude with a concert featuring the workshop's student ensembles "Jazz It Up!" is funded, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State. For more information, contact the Shea
Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
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