William Paterson University
Home Calendars Campus Directories Directions and Map Library Site Map Search  
The University Admissions Academics Enrolled Students Faculty and Staff News Cultural Events Community Outreach Athletics Alumni Relations Giving Opportunities
 
 
  wp perspectives
  News Releases
News Release Archive
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
   
News Release

WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY’S SPRING JAZZ ROOM SERVES UP HOT AND SPICY LATIN JAZZ ON MARCH 3

Percussionist Lawrence Killian fronts the William Paterson University Latin Jazz Ensemble in a concert directed by Chico Mendoza on Sunday, March 3 as part of the University’s Spring 2002 Jazz Room Series. Concert time is 4 p.m.3in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on the University campus in Wayne. A 3 p.m. informal discussion, open to the public, with the afternoon’s performers, titled "Sittin’ In," in Shea 101 is a special feature of the series.

The concert opens with a half-hour set by a student jazz ensemble. Admission prices are $12 standard and $9 senior citizens.

The pulsating rhythms of the multi-faceted percussionist Killian have been heard around the globe during an illustrious recording career as a sideman for some of the top artists in jazz, Latin, and commercial music. With more than 500 recordings to his credit, Killian is a favorite for movie soundtracks and television commercials; his latest studio project is on Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers’ compact disc, "Groovin’ High." Other artists with whom Killian has performed include Ahmad Jamal, Stan Getz, Pharaoh Sanders, Art Blakey, and Phyllis Hyman. Also, he toured five years with the original Village People.
The New Jersey-born Killian is quick to say, "The drums are my mouth piece and I always have something to say." He continues, "I don’t have to get the last word in, cause I’m just happy to be in musical conversation."

Mendoza, who will direct the William Paterson University Latin Jazz Ensemble, has been an adjunct member of the University faculty since 1980. As a performer and bandleader, Mendoza has credits with Latin groups at Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall; with George Benson and Stanley Turrentine at Newark Symphony Hall; and at colleges and clubs. Among his numerous recordings, his fourth album, "El Sonida," received a Latin Grammy Nomination in 1979. He is the host of "Salsa Meets Jazz" on Monday evenings at The Village Gate in New York City.

William Paterson University is a flagship of jazz education. For more than 25 years its internationally known Jazz Studies Program has offered a true jazz environment in which students study firsthand with an artist/teacher faculty composed of world-class, New York-area professionals. The program has created and fostered the nationally acclaimed Jazz Room Series of concerts each fall and spring and the summer Jazz It Up! Festival. Both programs are designed to make jazz more accessible to the community and draws thousands of jazz fans to the University’s campus.

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

# # #


2/22/02
For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966