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MULGREW MILLER, PIANIST AND DIRECTOR OF JAZZ STUDIES AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY, AND FRIENDS TO PERFORM IN JAZZ ROOM SERIES ON MARCH 8
—The concert is a birthday tribute for the late James Williams, who served as director of jazz studies from 1999 to 2004
Mulgrew Miller, one of today’s most influential jazz pianists and the director of jazz studies at William Paterson University, will lead a tribute concert for his longtime friend, colleague and predecessor at William Paterson, the late James Williams, on Sunday, March 8, 2009, as part of the University’s Jazz Room Series. Williams was director of jazz studies from 1999 until his death in 2004.
The concert will begin at 4 p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on the campus. The band will include bassist Ray Drummond, multi-woodwind player Bill Easley, drummer Rodney Green, trumpeter-arranger Bill Mobley and saxophonist David Demsey, William Paterson professor of music and coordinator of jazz studies.
Prior to the concert, Miller and other concert performers 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.
Williams was best known as a long-time pianist with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, a chair filled by Miller three years later. The concert promises to draw on many of his influences, and present an exciting tribute to a major teacher and artist.
Williams’s career spanned generations and styles, leading him to work with older jazz giants like Milt Jackson, Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, George Duvivier, Art Farmer, Kenny Burrell, Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard and Tony Williams. He also helped to develop younger artists like Kenny Garrett.
Miller has over 400 recordings as a leader and a sideman, is undoubtedly one of the most recorded and in-demand pianists of his generation. He is a veteran of tours and recordings with such ensembles as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, three years with the Woody Shaw Quintet, three years with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra, and over six years with the Tony Williams Quintet. Miller has in recent years appeared throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, the U.S. and Canada with his own trio, and his quintet “Wingspan.”
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 more than 25 years of continuous support from 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 for Performing Arts Box Office at 973-720-2371 or visit the Web at www.wplive.org.
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