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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY JAMS WITH
A NEW SERIES OF THE JAZZ ROOM
-- 25th Anniversary Celebration continues when Bucky Pizzarelli
opens on Sunday, February 2
The Jazz Room at William Paterson
University continues its 25th anniversary season with an outstanding
spring series of six concerts. Concert time is 4 p.m. on Sundays
in the Shea Center for Performing Arts at William Paterson University
in Wayne. A 3 p.m. informal discussion with the afternoon’s
performers, "Sittin’ In," precedes the concert and
is free to all Jazz Room ticketholders in Shea Center’s Recital
Hall Room 101.
Launched in 1978, the Jazz Room Series 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.
On February 2, Bucky Pizzarelli
opens the series in a performance with Howard Alden and Frank Vignola.
An emeritus member of the William Paterson University jazz faculty
and a Paterson native, Pizzarelli is a master swing jazz guitarist
who has played with many of the biggest names in jazz. With Alden
and Vignola, Pizzarelli forms an intriguing jazz guitar trio.
World-class bassist and composer Harvie S (formerly known as Harvie
Swartz) will perform with his outstanding contemporary Latin-jazz
quintet, Eye Contact, on February 9. This ensemble combines the
melodic and harmonic sophistication of jazz with the extraordinary
rhythmic intensity of Latin music.
Hot on the heels of a recently released duo CD, "Contrasts,"
from Double Time Jazz, saxophonist Jon Gordon and pianist Bill Charlap
will perform on the Shea stage on February 16.
The award-winning composer and alto saxophonist Oliver Lake appears
on February 23 with the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet, which features
steel pan artist, Lyndon Achee. In addition to his prowess as a
performer, Lake is a composer, a poet, a Guggenheim Fellow and the
co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet. After touring Africa,
Japan, Australia and Europe, Lake and this ensemble bring his world
of sound to William Paterson University.
March comes in like a lion with Slide Hampton on March 2. Acknowledged
as a master composer, arranger and trombonist, Hampton’s musical
works are celebrated in a performance with the William Paterson
University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Rich DeRosa. In
1998, Hampton was awarded a Grammy for "Best Jazz Arrangement
with a Vocalist."
The 25th anniversary season comes to a close with Susie Hansen on
March 9. Hansen performs with the William Paterson University Latin
Jazz Ensemble, directed by Chico Mendoza. An active West Coast-based
artist, Hansen has had a long and illustrious recording career as
an electric violinist for some of the top artists in the jazz, Latin,
and commercial genres.
Each concert opens with a half-hour set by a student jazz ensemble.
Admission prices are $12 standard and $9 senior citizens. For information,
call Shea Center for Performing Arts Box Office at 973.720.2371.
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.
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- 1/13/03
For Further Information, contact:
- Mary
Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966
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