NSU Announces 38th Annual Green Country Jazz Festival

Northeastern State University-s Green Country Jazz Festival will take place Monday, March 7, 2005. Performing in the evening concert will be saxophonist Bobby Watson. Watson was a longtime member of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and continues to front the band Horizon. He is also the William and Mary Grant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He is a Downbeat poll winner, a multiple GrammyHorizon Reassembled, on Palmetto Records, is currently number 4 on the jazz radio charts. Watson has previously appeared at the NSU Jazz Lab with Horizon, but this is his first appearance with the NSU Jazz Ensemble. nominee, has recorded over 20 albums as a leader, and over 80 as a guest with notables such as Max Roach, Joe Williams, Lou Rawls, and Wynton Marsalis.

-Bobby Watson is, without question, one of the best jazz musicians on the planet,- said Arthur White, NSU Director of Jazz Studies. -Every time I hear him I am equally humbled and inspired. The NSU Jazz program is certainly fortunate to have this potent artist in Tahlequah.-

The evening concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the NSU Center for Performing Arts. Tickets are $8 general admission, or $6 for student groups of ten or more.

This year the GCJF is debuts the Judges Jam, on Sunday March 6, 2005, 8 pm, at the Jazz Lab with a cover charge of only $2 per person. Our judges include the following amazing talents: saxophonist/flutist Paul Scea, the Director of Jazz Studies at West Virginia University, bassist Steve Haines, the Director of the Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and drummer Thomas Taylor, one of the most sought-after drummers on the East Coast, who teaches at several North Carolina universities, as well as the Aebersold Summer Jazz Camps. The judges are among the finest players/educators in the country.

During the day of the festival, junior high and high school jazz bands will perform for judges at the NSU Center for the Performing Arts. There will also be a clinic with Mr. Watson for students attending the festival. These performances are open to the public.

Watson will be performing with the NSU Jazz Ensemble I. This ensemble has been awarded unanimous superior ratings and numerous outstanding musicianship awards at the 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 Wichita Jazz Festivals in Wichita, Kansas. In the past seven years, Jazz Band I performed with internationally renowned jazz artists such as Joe Lovano, Jimmy Cobb, Bob Mintzer, Scott Wendholt, Marvin Stamm, Slide Hampton, Chris Vadala, Byron Stripling, Dennis Mackrel, Bobby Shew, John Dankworth, Vincent DiMartino, Jim Riggs, and Leon Breeden.

Tickets for the evening concert may be reserved by calling the Sequoyah Institute (NSU) at 918-458-2075. For additional information, please contact Arthur White, NSU Director of Jazz Studies at 918-456-5511, ext. 4602 or whitea@nsuok.edu.

12/31/1969

Published: 2005-01-11 00:00:00