DR. BILLY TAYLOR HEADLINES WILLIAM PATERSON
UNIVERSITY’S TENTH ANNUAL "JAZZ IT UP!" FESTIVAL
AND SERVES AS ARTIST IN RESIDENCE DURING JAZZ WORKSHOP FOR STUDENTS
• Taylor celebrates 82nd birthday at
his July 25 performance
• Notable jazz artists in concert from July 21 to 26
Legendary pianist and jazz educator Dr. Billy Taylor headlines William
Paterson University’s tenth annual "Jazz It Up!"
festival from July 21 to 26 with a performance in Shea Center on
the campus in Wayne. Taylor and his trio join a slate of notable
performers – bassist Earl May, the New York Voices with the
William Paterson University Summer Big Band, trumpeter Joe Magnarelli,
and David Demsey and Friends.
The festival is being held in conjunction with the University’s
Summer Jazz Improvisation Workshop for high school and college students.
As an artist in residence, Taylor will participate in the program
that includes seven intense days of morning classes, afternoon performance
sessions and clinics with jazz artists. All students will participate
in hands-on, small group sessions with the guest artists. On Saturday,
July 26, the workshop will conclude with a 1 p.m. concert featuring
the workshop’s student ensembles.
The Jazz It Up! series features concerts every evening at 7:30 p.m.
from Monday, July 21 through Friday, July 25 in Shea Center on campus.
The festival also includes a workshop for children with the Blackman
Brothers at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23. A $10 pass for the entire
week may be purchased prior to Monday evening’s concert or
single tickets may be purchased for $3.
Dr. Billy Taylor will perform on Friday, July 25 with a trio that
includes Chip Jackson on bass and Winard Harper on drums. Taylor
will celebrate his 82nd birthday on July 24, and will mark his 59th
year as a performing musician. Honored at Carnegie Hall and the
Kennedy Center for his musical contributions, Dr. Taylor is a performer,
composer, educator, author and broadcast media personality. He has
played and recorded with many legendary performers, and earned a
doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in addition to his
16 honorary degrees. Taylor is known for his work on CBS Sunday
Morning and National Public Radio, including hosting "Billy
Taylor’s Jazz from the Kennedy Center."
"Jazz It Up!," which has drawn thousands of jazz fans
to the University’s campus during the past nine 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 21 with David Demsey and Friends.
Demsey, a saxophonist and coordinator of William Paterson’s
Jazz Studies Program, performs with the New York Philharmonic and
recently with the Kirov Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Russia. Demsey
fronts a quartet that includes Rich DeRosa, head of jazz composition/arranging
for William Paterson’s Jazz Studies Program, on drums; Jim
McNeely, a William Paterson University adjunct faculty member and
music director of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, on piano; and Steve
LaSpina, William Paterson adjunct, on bass. The members of the Vanguard
Jazz Orchestra serve as artists in residence at William Paterson.
On Tuesday, July 22, bassist Earl May claims the spotlight. He will
be joined by Catherine Russell, vocals, with Eddie Locke, drums,
David Glasser, alto saxophone, and Larry Ham, drums. Through the
last seven decades, May has loaned his considerable talents to such
stars as Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker,
Dizzy Gillespie, Tommy Flanagan, Doc Cheatham, and more.
The Blackman Brothers offer an entertaining and interactive look
at the world of jazz in their "Journey into Jazz" program
on Wednesday, July 23. The workshop is designed to introduce elementary
school children to the world of jazz. That evening, the vocal jazz
ensemble New York Voices teams up with the William Paterson Summer
Big Band directed by Stephen Marcone, professor of music at William
Paterson. Formed in 1987 by Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Kim Nazarian,
Caprice Fox and Sara Krieger, New York Voices is a Grammy Award-winning
vocal ensemble renowned for their excellence in jazz and the art
of group singing. Their interests are rooted in jazz, but their
performances and recordings often include Brazilian, R & B,
classical, and pop influences.
Trumpeter and flugelhorn player Joe Magnarelli takes the stage on
Thursday, July 24 with his ensemble featuring Dick Oatts, lead alto
saxophonist for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, on saxophones, Paul
Gill on bass, Renee Rosnes on piano and Billy Drummond on drums.
Magnarelli has played with Lionel Hampton and Harry Connick Jr.,
as well as saxophonist Charles Davis and organist-pianist Sam Yahel.
His latest CD is the 2000 release, "Mr. Mags."
"Jazz It Up!" is funded, in part, by a grant from the
New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, and a
newly awarded grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
For more information, contact the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
# # #
NOTE: High resolution, downloadable photographs of the guest artists
are available at:
http://ww2.wpunj.edu/adminsrv/pub-info/Photos/index.htm
# # #
- For
Further Information, contact:
- Mary
Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966
- 6/18/03
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