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September 20, 2005
WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES THE 28th SEASON OF THE JAZZ ROOM CONCERT SERIES BEGINNING ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
—Vocalist Tierney Sutton and her trio headline the first concert
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Vocalist Tierney Sutton and her trio open the fall 2005 season of The Jazz Room at William Paterson University in Wayne. The series continues with Tom Harrell and his quintet; Bill Mays and his trio; Jimmy McGriff; Charli Persip and his big band, Supersound; and Jerry Dodgion with the William Paterson University Jazz Ensemble. The Sunday afternoon fall series, one of the most prestigious university-sponsored jazz events in the country, will run from September 25 through October 30.
Concerts begin at 4 p.m. on Sundays in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus. “Sittin’ In,” informal jazz talks with the afternoon’s artists or other special guests, will be presented prior to the concerts. The talks begin at 3 p.m. in Shea Center 101 and are free to all Jazz Room ticketholders. Each concert begins with a performance by a student ensemble composed of WPU jazz majors.
The series opens on September 25 with Tierney Sutton and her trio. Equally at home on the stage and in the recording studio, Sutton is now a regular on the concert circuit and just released her fifth Telarc recording, “I’m with the Band,” recorded live at New York City’s Birdland. She will be accompanied instrumentalists Christian Jacob on piano, Trey Henry on bass and Ray Brinker on drums.
Trumpeter Tom Harrell will perform on October 2. Harrell, a trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and arranger, sandwiches his Shea Center performance between gigs at Birdland and the Village Vanguard, both in New York City. He will perform with his quintet, which includes tenor saxophonist and flutist Jimmy Greene, pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Ugonna Okego and drummer Quincy Davis. Harrell recently released his twentieth album, “Wise Children,” recorded on Bluebird /Arista Associated Labels.
Bill Mays and his trio, which features Martin Wind on bass and Matt Wilson on drums, perform on October 9. Mays, a pianist, composer and arranger, began his professional career at age 17 as a bandsman in the U.S. Navy. Mays’s most recent recording, “Going Home,” recorded live at the Jazz Standard in Manhattan, features standards and original compositions.
Jimmy McGriff performs on October 16. McGriff is one of the legendary kings of the jazz organ whose style embraces jazz, jazz-funk, soul-jazz, hard bop and jazz blues. Having played and recorded with many of the major players in the jazz world for almost four decades, McGriff returned to the Milestone label and resumed his solo career in 1996 with The Dream Team, which featured saxman David "Fathead" Newman and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, both of whom would become familiar faces on McGriff recordings in the years to come. Follow-up albums included “Straight Up” (1998), “McGriff's House Party” (2000), “Feelin' It” (2001) and “McGriff Avenue” (2002), a retrospective on some of his '60s hits.
On October 23, jazz drummer Charli Persip and his big band, Supersound, take the Shea stage. Persip’s early experience began in the 1950s playing locally in New Jersey and with Tadd Dameron, but he gained his initial recognition for his work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band and quintet. In 1959, he formed his own group, the Jazz Statesmen, which featured a young Freddie Hubbard. Persip appeared at many recording sessions in the 1950s and '60s with such performers as Lee Morgan, Dinah Washington, Red Garland, Gil Evans, Don Ellis, Eric Dolphy, Roland Kirk, Gene Ammons and Archie Shepp, among others. He performed with Billy Eckstine from 1966 to 1973, and was the main drum instructor for Jazzmobile in the mid-'70s. Persip has led his big band (formerly Superband) since the early '80s.
Saxophonist, composer and arranger Jerry Dodgion is joined by the William Paterson University Jazz Ensemble on October 30. Dodgion began playing alto saxophone in the 1950s while in junior high school and worked in the San Francisco Bay area. Some of the countless musical associations that Dodgion forged through the years were with Gerald Wilson, Benny Carter, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman, Oliver Nelson, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, Duke Pearson, Count Basie and Marian McPartland. He is currently leading his own newly formed group called “The Joy of Sax” (five saxophones and rhythm section). Their first CD is “Jerry Dodgion and the Joy of Sax,” featuring Frank Wess.
Admission prices to the Jazz Room series are $15 standard and $12 for senior citizens. For information, call the 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.
Launched in 1978, 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.Note to reporters and editors: Downloadable photographs for the following events are available at http://ww2.wpunj.edu/publicityphotos/Jazz/JazzRoom2005_06/
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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY 1855-2005: CELEBRATING 150 YEARS
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