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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES THE 31th SEASON OF THE JAZZ ROOM CONCERT SERIES BEGINNING ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12
—Fall 2008 Season to include Orrin Evans, Sean Jones Quartet, Roland Vazquez, Roseanna Vitro and the Kenny Werner Quartet, and Phil Woods and the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra
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Pianist Orrin Evans will open the fall 2008 season of The Jazz Room at William Paterson University in Wayne on October 12. The series continues with the Sean Jones Quartet, Roland Vazquez, Roseanna Vitro and the Kenny Werner Quartet, and Phil Woods and the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra. The Sunday afternoon fall series, one of the most prestigious university-sponsored jazz events in the country, will run from October 12 through November 9, with a special holiday concert on December 12.
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, 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 William Paterson student jazz ensemble.
The series opens on October 12 with acoustic pianist Orrin Evans, among the “young lions” of straight-ahead jazz who emerged in the 1990s. Evans studied at Rutgers before going on to study privately with Kenny Barron and perform as a sideman with Bobby Watson, Ralph Peterson, Duane Eubanks, and others. Evans recorded his first CD as a leader, The Orrin Evans Trio, for his own Black Entertainment label in 1994.
Sean Jones, trumpeter and composer, will perform on October 19. He performs with his own groups both nationally and internationally. In addition to being a lead trumpeter for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which also features Wynton Marsalis, Jones often plays at major music venues and jazz festivals.
The series continues with Roland Vazquez, drummer and composer, on October 26. Vazquez has been performing and recording for more than 35 years. He developed his “funky-salsa-bebop” style in the 1980s and continues to redefine how music is experienced. Vasquez has performed throughout the United States and in Europe, as well as in the Victoria, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Montreal Jazz Festivals.
On November 2, vocalist Roseanna Vitro and the Kenny Werner Quartet will perform. Vitro is a storyteller and a jazz singer with a penchant for touching audiences. She has toured the world as a performer, clinician, recording artist, vocal instructor and ambassador. In this performance, she joins her long-time musical partner, the renowned pianist and arranger Kenny Werner. Their latest CD, The Delirium Blues Project, was recorded live at the Blue Note in August 2007.
Saxophonist Phil Woods will be joined by the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra on November 9. In addition to being one of the most brilliant alto saxophonists in jazz, Woods is also a clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. He has performed and/or recorded with such names as Buddy Rich, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Billy Joel, and Quincy Jones, among many others. Woods has composed hundreds of songs, instrumental pieces, and arrangements, and his recordings have won four Grammy awards out of seven nominations.
A special William Paterson Jazz Holiday Celebration will be held on December 12. This concert will be held at 8 p.m. and includes Rich DeRosa’s orchestration of Wynton Marsalis’ version of The Night Before Christmas featuring a special guest narrator. In addition, the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra will perform the rarely heard Ellington Strayhorn Nutcracker Suite, plus many more instrumental and vocal jazz holiday performances.
Admission prices to the Jazz Room series are $15 standard; $12 for senior citizens; and $8 for students. 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.
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September 9 , 2008
www.wpunj.edu
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