For three decades, the KU Jazz Festival has been one of the focal points for jazz performance and education in the central United States. This non-competitive event has provided the region an opportunity to hear and learn from world-class jazz musicians and educators.
The Jazz Festival anniversary also coincides with the 35th anniversary for the KU Jazz Studies Program. This year's festival will honor the jazz program at KU by featuring various classes and performances by select KU alumni and former KU jazz directors.
Daily master classes and clinics held in Murphy Hall are open to all college, high school and junior high/middle school big bands, jazz combos and vocal jazz ensembles. Students, KU music faculty and KU music alumni will perform evening concerts that are open to the general public.
"Over the past three decades, we have presented a 'who's who' of major artists at the KU Jazz Festival," said Dan Gailey, KU music professor and jazz studies director. "The fact that the anniversaries of the festival and the KU Jazz Studies Program both occur this spring presented us with a great opportunity to continue this tradition using some of our most distinguished alumni from the program." Gailey added, "It is also a chance for us to celebrate the contributions of many talented musicians and directors who were instrumental in getting our jazz program established as one of the nation's premier programs."
Jazz Festival events open to the general public are:
Friday, March 2, 2006, 7:30 p.m. Lied Center of Kansas:
* KU music alumni Gary Foster and Earle Dumler perform with the KU Jazz Ensemble I
* KU Jazz Festival Adjudicator All-Star Big Band performs
* KU Jazz Combo I and KU Jazz Singers perform
* Saturday, March 3, 2006, 7:30 p.m., Lied Center of Kansas:
* KU Jazz Alumni Big Band performs, directed by: Robert Foster, KU professor of music, assistant chair of the Department of Music and Dance and former KU jazz director; James Barnes, KU professor of music theory and composition and former KU jazz director; Ronald McCurdy, former KU jazz director and current jazz studies director at USC; and Dan Gailey. Guest alumni soloists for this concert include Gary Foster and Earle Dumler.
Tickets for the KU Jazz Festival performances at the Lied Center are $15/general public and $10/students and senior citizens. -- www2.ku.edu
Posted February 13th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
