Stafford special guest of NSU Green Country Jazz Festival

(Tahlequah, OK)--NSU hosts the 44th annual Green Country Jazz Festival on March 6-7 with performances by legendary jazz trumpeter Terrell Stafford, who also serves as director of jazz studies at Temple University.

The festival opens Sunday with the seventh annual Judges Jam at 8 p.m. in the Jazz Lab. Admission is $5.

Stafford will perform with an all-star jazz combo featuring Jeff Hellmer, John Fremgen, Tim Pitchford, James Greeson, Jared Johnson and Tommy Poole, director of jazz studies at NSU.

Since the 1990s, Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golsons Sextet, McCoy Tyners Sextet and the Kenny Barron Sextet. He is a member of the Grammy award-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which won Best Large Ensemble in 2009 for its release, Live at the Village Vangaurd.

"I have heard Terell play live with a couple of different ensembles," Poole said. "He always brings a lot of energy to each performance. He also is in high demand these days as an educator."

The festival continues March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the University Center Herb Rozell Ballroom with Stafford and the NSU Jazz Ensemble giving a special evening concert. General admission tickets are $12. Admission is $6 with an NSU student ID. To make reservations contact B.J. OShea at 918-444-4603 or nsujazz@nsuok.edu.

The Green Country Jazz Festival is part of the NSU Green Country Jazz Series. The series is presented with help from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Oklahoma Arts Council.