The Brigham Young University School of Music will host the BYU Jazz Festival featuring BYU Jazz Voices, Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band and Synthesis Big Band Wednesday through Saturday, March 8-11.
BYU Jazz Voices, directed by Kelly Eisenhour, will perform Wednesday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free.
The jazz ensemble of seven men and eight women recently participated in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho. Their performance will feature student performers Curtis Woodbury and Stuart Maxfield on the saxophone, Jay Butler on the piano, Jeremy Bowen on the bass and Zach Vehrs on the drums.
The BYU Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band will feature clarinetists George Bailey, Bob Barrett, Clark Burnside and Phuong Nguyen in a performance titled “Clarinet Marmalade: A Tribute to the Licorice Stick of Jazz” Thursday, March 9, at 5:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. To purchase tickets, call the Fine Arts Tickets Office at (801) 422-4322 or visit performances.byu.edu.
Directed by Steve Call, the Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band will perform “Bourbon Street Parade” by Paul Barbarin, “West End Blues” by Joe “King” Oliver and “Twelfth Street Rag” by Euday Bowman. The concert will also feature ballads by Harry Woods, Eddie Edwards and Duke Ellington.
The Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band includes performers Michael Whatcott on the clarinet, Michael Tobian on the saxophone, Randy Lee on the trumpet, Brent Arnold on the trombone, Jacob Jones on the piano, Christian Davis on the banjo and guitar, Bart Gibb on the bass, Michael Peck on the drums and vocalist Jillaine Chaston.
The BYU Synthesis Big Band, directed by Ray Smith, will provide the finale of the jazz festival with guest artists Friday and Saturday, March 10-11, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. Tickets are $9 or $6 with BYU or student ID. To purchase tickets, call the Fine Arts Tickets Office at (801) 422-4322 or visit performances.byu.edu.
“The Four Freshman,” a popular ‘50s-era vocal jazz quartet, will join Synthesis Friday night. The Four Freshmen includes Brian Eichenberger, Curtis Calderon, Vince Johnson and Bob Ferreira. They are the 22nd group of the quartet that started in the 1950s.
New York City guest artist Bill Charlap will tantalize piano keys in his George Gershwin-style jazz tunes at the Saturday night Synthesis concert. He has released four albums for Blue Note Records with his jazz trio.
Synthesis combines swing, blues, jazz, Latin and fusion styles into a feast of jazz entertainment. A past sweepstakes champion of the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival, Synthesis has participated in the prestigious Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland and the Pori International Jazz Festival in Finland. The ensemble has also been a special guest performer at Tokyo Disneyland and has performed in The People’s Republic of China.
For more information about BYU Jazz Festival performances, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348.
Writer: Angela Fischer
