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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY PRESENTS 16TH ANNUAL SUMMER JAZZ WEEK
—Notable jazz artists, including the legendary Billy Taylor Trio on His 88th Birthday and SNL favorite Joe Piscopo singing a tribute to Frank Sinatra, in concert from July 20 to 24
The legendary Billy Taylor Trio will perform on July 24 during William Paterson University’s sixteenth annual Summer Jazz Week from July 20 to 24 in Shea Center for Performing Arts on the campus in Wayne. Also featured during the weeklong concert series are pianist Mulgrew Miller and Friends, the Marty Napoleon Quartet with trumpeter Randy Sandke, a Frank Sinatra tribute with vocalist Joe Piscopo with the William Paterson Summer Student Band, directed by Steve Marcone, and saxophonist Adam Niewood.
The concerts are held in conjunction with the University’s Summer Jazz Improvisation Workshop for high school and college students. All students will participate in hands-on, small group sessions with guest artists as well as morning classes, afternoon performance sessions and clinics. On Saturday, July 25, the workshop will conclude with a free admission 1 p.m. concert featuring the workshop’s student ensembles.
Summer Jazz Week features concerts every evening at 7:30 p.m. from Monday, July 20 through Friday, July 24 in Shea Center for the Performing Arts on campus. A $15 pass for the entire week may be purchased prior to Monday evening’s concert or single tickets may be purchased for $4.
Summer Jazz Week, which has drawn thousands of jazz fans to the University’s campus during the past 15 summers, is designed to make jazz more accessible to the community. William Paterson has been a flagship of jazz education for more than 30 years and is recognized for its internationally known Jazz Studies Program and nationally acclaimed Jazz Room Series of concerts each fall and spring.
The festival opens on Monday, July 20 with a University faculty concert featuring pianist Mulgrew Miller, director of jazz studies at William Paterson, assisted by an all-star faculty lineup including drummer Rich DeRosa, saxophonist David Demsey and bassist Steve LaSpina. Miller 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 with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra and more than six years with the Tony Williams Quintet. He has been featured on more than 400 recordings, made his first recording as a leader for producer Orrin Keepnews' former label, Landmark, and later recorded on the RCA Novus label. He tours throughout the world, and in 1997 was invited to tour Japan with an assembly of some of the most prestigious names in jazz piano—a group of ten pianists called "100 Gold Fingers" including Tommy Flanagan, Ray Bryant and Kenny Barron. Miller is also a member of the Contemporary Piano Ensemble, a unique group consisting of four pianists performing with a rhythm section.
Tuesday, July 21, is Swing Night with the Marty Napoleon Quartet and jazz trumpet player Randy Sandke. Napoleon, a pianist from the swing era, has performed with Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday. Joining him are Bill Crow on bass and Ray Mosca on drums. Sandke has performed at festivals, clubs, and concerts around the world and has recorded more than twenty albums as a leader. He has recorded with dozens of musical artists including Michael Brecker, Benny Goodman, Kenny Barron, Dick Hyman, Mulgrew Miller, Mel Tormé, Rosemary Clooney, Cab Calloway, Art Garfunkel, Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, James Taylor and Joe Williams. Sandke has played on the soundtracks of several films, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club” and Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memories,” and on Broadway in the production of “Chicago” at the City Center.
The mid-week performance on Wednesday, July 23, showcases multi-talented Joe Piscopo singing a Frank Sinatra tribute with the William Paterson Summer Jazz Ensemble directed by Stephen Marcone, professor of music at William Paterson. The Newark-born performer achieved household recognition on “Saturday Night Live,” but has performed as a comedian, a singer and an actor for stage, television and in major motion pictures. Piscopo has long been one of America’s most popular comedy and concert attractions, filling arenas and casino showrooms from coast to coast and in Canada, including the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival. He tours with his own original big band tribute to Frank Sinatra. Look for him in the upcoming films “Joey Benefit” and “Bloomfield Avenue.”
Saxophonist and William Paterson University jazz studies alumnus Adam Niewood, son of the late jazz saxophonist Gerry Niewood, will perform with his group, The Rabble Rousers, on Thursday, July 23. Niewood’s most recent double CD, “Epic Journeys” on Innova Recordings, features a variety of adventurous, original compositions. He can also be heard on “Introducing Adam Niewood,” his first record as a leader, with Eric Lewis on piano, Matt Brewer on bass, and Ben Perowsky on drums. Niewood and drummer Bill Goodwin have played with Bill Charlap, Jim McNeely, Rufus Reid, Warren Vache, Vic Juris, Steve Gilmore and Gene Bertoncini.
A Billy Taylor 88th Birthday Celebration will bring Summer Jazz Week 2009 to a conclusion on Friday, July 24. Taylor will celebrate his 88th birthday with the audience and his trio, Chip Jackson on bass and Winard Harper on drums. Honored at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for his musical contributions, Dr. Taylor is a performer, composer, educator, author and broadcast media personality. He has played and recorded with many legendary performers, and earned a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in addition to his 16 honorary degrees. Taylor is known for his work on “CBS Sunday Morning” and National Public Radio, including hosting “Billy Taylor’s Jazz from the Kennedy Center.”
William Paterson’s Summer Jazz Week is funded, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, and a newly awarded grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
For more information, contact the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
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May 29, 2009
www.wpunj.edu
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