CARL ALLEN AND RODNEY WHITAKER PROJECT PERFORM IN JAZZ ROOM SERIES AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18
— Allen is a jazz alumnus of William Paterson University
The Carl Allen-Rodney Whitaker Project, featuring powerful rhythm players Carl Allen, drums, and Rodney Whitaker, bass, as co-leaders of an outstanding ensemble, will perform at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. on Sunday, October 18 as part of the fall Jazz Room Series. The concert will begin at 4 p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on the campus.
The ensemble also includes Vincent Herring, alto sax, and Rodney Jones, guitar.
Prior to the concert, the group’s members will be the guests for “Sittin’ In,” an informal discussion about jazz, at 3 p.m. in room 101 of Shea Center. Admission is free to all Jazz Room ticketholders.
Tickets are available in advance or on the day of the performance at $15 standard; $12 senior citizens, William Paterson faculty, staff and alumni; and $8 for non-William Paterson students. William Paterson students may attend free of charge.
An alumnus of the William Paterson Jazz Studies Program, Allen is the artistic director of the jazz program at Juilliard. He has over 150 recordings to his credit. A year before graduating from William Paterson in 1983, he joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and served as his musical director for eight years. They have several recordings together, including Double Take and Life Flight. Allen has also played with Benny Golson, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Lena Horne, Herbie Hancock, and many others.
Whitaker is associate professor of double bass and director of jazz studies at the Michigan State University College of Music. One of the leading performers and teachers of jazz double bass in the United States, he is a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In 2006, he was nominated for the Juno Award, Canada's equivalent to the Grammy, for his work on Let Me Tell You About My Day, produced by Alma Records.
The Carl Allen-Rodney Whitaker Project released their latest CD, Work to Do, on Mack Avenue Records in May 2009.
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.
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.
For tickets or information, call the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371 or order online at www.wplive.org.
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October 5 , 2009
www.wpunj.edu
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