JERSEY CITY, N.J., Aug. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Acclaimed trumpeter Wynton
Marsalis will perform a "Tribute to Clark Terry" with the New
Jersey City University Alumni Jazz Big Band conducted by
NJCU Professor Richard
Lowenthal. The final performance of Jersey City's "Summer Sounds Series," the
concert is sponsored by NJCU in collaboration with the City of Jersey City to provide cultural events
throughout the City. The free performance will take place at
the J. Owen Grundy Pier, Exchange Place in Jersey City, on Thursday, September 10 at 6:30 p.m.
The Alumni Band will feature musicians who studied at the
University from the late 1960s to the present. Among the
performers will be drummer Rich
DeRosa (recipient of the 2014 NJCU Distinguished Alumni
Award); sax players Mark Friedman,
Daryl Dixon, and Bob Magnuson; trumpeters Vinnie Cutro and Nathan
Eklund; and trombonists Rob
Edwards, Danny Hall, and
Conrad Zulauf. Joining the
Alumni Band are bassist Marcus
McLaurine and pianist Mike
Lungo, professional musicians who performed with
Clark Terry through the years.
"NJCU is proud to partner with the City to present this special
tribute to the legendary Clark Terry
and to share the genius of jazz great Wynton Marsalis and the fine musicianship of our
music alumni and faculty," stated President Sue Henderson.
She continued, "Thanks to talented professionals like Professor
Lowenthal, NJCU students can benefit from their professors' years
of teaching, mentoring, and networking. Dick has performed across
the globe for decades, sometimes with students or alumni. We're so
proud that Dick is beginning his 49th year as a faculty
member in our Caroline L. Guarini Department of Music, Dance and
Theatre."
The first annual "Clark Terry
Award" will be presented at the concert to an NJCU student who
honors the legacy, fine musicianship, and strong humanitarian
values of the great man for whom the award is named.
Sponsors for the "Tribute to Clark
Terry" include: the Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs,
Hudson County Department of Parks and Community Services, NJCU
Foundation, Arch Insurance, Del-Sano Contracting, Genova Burns,
Goldman Sachs, 30 M Acquisitions LLC, Connell Foley, Liberty Savings Federal Credit
Union, Mack-Cali, Panepinto
Properties, SILVERMAN, Wells Fargo Bank, Hopkins Group, Masonry
Contractors Association, Hyatt Regency Jersey City, Capital One
Bank, Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey
Jazz Society and Hot House Jazz Magazine.
ABOUT CLARK TERRY
On February 22, 2015 the jazz
world lost one of its great trumpet legends when Clark Terry passed away in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at the age of
94.
Born and raised in St. Louis,
Mr. Terry began his career with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra where
he met trumpet section mate Doc
Severinson, who would later become Mr. Terry's band
leader. In 1948, he joined the Count Basie Orchestra and
three years later joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra, with which
he performed from 1951 to 1959.
In 1962, Mr. Terry became a national musical celebrity as the
first African-American member of a television studio orchestra –
the Tonight Show Orchestra with Johnny
Carson on NBC. It was there that Mr. Terry developed his
signature tune, "Mumbles." He performed with the Tonight Show
Orchestra through 1972.
As a trumpeter, pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, composer, and
one of the foremost jazz educators in the world, he earned over 250
awards and honors, among them: induction into the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Hall of Fame in 2013; the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
in 2010; the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award in
1991; and sixteen honorary doctorates.
Mr. Terry, featured soloist at NJCU's 50th
Anniversary Concert and at four other concerts, travelled for a
week with the NJCU Jazz Band, marking the first time a college jazz
ensemble had a major jazz soloist tour with them.
ABOUT WYNTON MARSALIS
Wynton Marsalis, guest soloist
for the "Tribute to Clark Terry,"
was mentored by Mr. Terry with whom he shares many attributes and
contributions to jazz through performance, teaching, research and
composition.
Born in New Orleans in 1961,
Mr. Marsalis moved to New York
City where he enrolled at Juilliard in 1979. He joined
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
in 1980, and went on to perform with Clark
Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny
Rollins, Herbie Hancock, and
many other jazz legends. Mr. Marsalis formed his own group in
1981, touring for the next 15 years.
In 1987, he co-founded a jazz program at Lincoln Center, and in
1996, Jazz at Lincoln Center was recognized as a cultural
institution of equal stature with the New York Philharmonic, the
Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Ballet. Under Mr.
Marsalis' leadership, Jazz at Lincoln Center is more than a center
of performance; it also offers comprehensive educational
programming, including concerts, film forums, television and radio
activities, and educational activities.
Among the many honors Mr. Marsalis has received are: nine
Grammy Awards, including 1983 and 1984 awards for both jazz and
classical records; and the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his
oratorio "Blood on the Fields;" and 25 honorary degrees.
Much like his mentor Clark Terry,
Mr. Marsalis devotes a tremendous amount of time to giving back to
musicians of all ages to ensure that the heritage of jazz will live
on.
ABOUT THE NJCU JAZZ BIG BAND
This is the third year the NJCU Alumni Jazz Big Band has been
featured in a waterfront concert on the J. Owen Grundy Pier.
Last September, the Big Band performed with guitarists John and Bucky Pizzarelli in a salute to "The
Other Jersey Boys." In 2013, trumpet great Jon Faddis performed as part of the NJCU
presidential inaugural celebration for Dr. Henderson.
This concert marks the third consecutive reunion of the NJCU
Alumni Jazz Big Band, conducted by Professor Lowenthal, who, in
September, will begin his 49th year as a faculty member
at the University. He founded the Jazz Program at NJCU, then
JCSC, in 1969. Under Professor Lowenthal's leadership, the
band appeared at concerts and festivals throughout the world,
including a one-week residency with Gerry
Mulligan in Paris, Montreux
Jazz Festival, Notre Dame Jazz Festival, and a U.S. State
Department tour of Romania. Under his leadership and then
continuing with Professor Ed Joffe,
who recently retired, NJCU has offered a strong program for the
past 46 years. Recently, Professor Lowenthal led an NJCU
student quartet for a one-week residency at the True Music School
in Mumbai, India.
NJCU offers an outstanding program in jazz studies featuring a
faculty of world-class New
York-based jazz artists. Both undergraduates and graduate
students take part in a rigorous program designed to develop their
improvisational, compositional and ensemble skills. The program
also offers courses in the business side of the industry. NJCU
alumni have an impressive list of credits including Broadway,
television, the recording industry, and symphony orchestras. Alumni
have worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry,
including Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, Gerry
Mulligan, Ray Charles,
Peter Nero, Marian McPartland, Lionel Hampton, Johnny
Mathis, Aretha Franklin,
Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Horace Silver, Nancy
Wilson, Mel Torme, and
Tony Bennett.
The "Tribute to Clark Terry"
concert is free and open to the public. The J. Owen Grundy Pier is
conveniently located near public transportation and there are
parking lots in the area. For more information, call 201-200-3426
or visit the NJCU website at www.njcu.edu.
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