Friday April 4, 2008
UNCW Jazz Ensembles with Ron McCurdy, trumpet
Beckwith Recital Hall, Cultural Arts building
7:30 pm
$5 general admission / free to students with valid UNCW ID
For more information, call the Department of Music Events Hotline 910/962-7416 or 910/962-3415.
Department of Music presents UNCW Jazz Ensembles in the premiere of a newly commissioned piece for big band by Mike Tomaro. Special guest: trumpeter Ron McCurdy.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Although a non-competitive festival, the UNCW Guest Artist Jazz Festival affords high school jazz bands the opportunity to work with and be critiqued by some of the world's finest jazz performers and educators in an educational and entertaining atmosphere. 2 special concerts on Friday and Saturday night highlight the festival.
MIKE TOMARO
Mike Tomaro, saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator, is the director of jazz studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A former member of the Army Blues jazz ensemble, he is a Yamaha performing artist. Tomaro has three nationally released recordings: Forgotten Dreams (Seabreeze Records), Dancing Eyes (Seabreeze Records) and Home Again (Positive Music). His compositions and arrangements have been performed by such jazz greats as Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Ernie Watts, Ed Soph, Bobby Shew, New York Voices, Al Vizzutti and many more. Over fifty of his compositions and arrangements have been published by Doug Beach Music, Hal Leonard Publications and Walrus Music. As a performer Tomaro has worked with such artists as Rosemary Clooney, Ray Charles, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Mathis, Bernadette Peters, Terence Blanchard, the Dizzy Gillespie Tribute Big Band, and the Woody Herman Orchestra. In addition to leading his own band, he has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.
RON McCURDY
Ronald C. McCurdy is Chairman of the Jazz Studies Department and Professor of Music in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern Californi. McCurdy has recently released Once Again for the First Time on the INNOVA label and is author of Meet the Great Jazz Legends, published by Alfred Publishing Company. McCurdy is co-author of the vocal jazz improvisation series Approaching the Standards, published by Warner Brothers. He is currently touring with the Langston Hughes Project's Ask Your Mama: 12 Mood for Jazz. The multimedia presentation features a jazz quartet and spoken-word and images from the Harlem Renaissance. McCurdy is a consultant to the Grammy Foundation educational programs, including serving as director of the National Grammy Vocal Jazz Ensemble. A few of the artists he has worked with include Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney, Leslie Uggams, Arturo Sandoval, Diane Schuur, Ramsey Lewis, Mercer Ellington, Dr. Billy Taylor, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton and Dianne Reeves. He has served as a member of the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Camp faculty. McCurdy is a performing artist for the Yamaha International Corporation.
Additional support for the UNCW Jazz Festival is provided by the UNCW Jazz Festival Endowment established with a gift from Ann Sherman-Skiba in memory of her husband Guenther Skiba.
Brought to you by the Department of Music.
