Jazz Festival tickets on sale Monday
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November 30, 2013 |
 The
University of Idaho Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival
will celebrate its 47th year February 19-22, and
Festival tickets go on sale to the general
public on Monday, December 2.
Tickets are available for all nights, with
prices ranging from $25-$50 per night and
special discounts as low as $7 for youth and
college students in the quad cities area.
Tickets may be purchased at the ASUI-Kibbie
Activity Center Ticket Office by calling (208)
885-7212, toll free 1-88-88-UIDAHO or online at
www.uidaho.edu/ticketoffice.
“Each new year astounds me with the caliber of
artists that want to play in Moscow, Idaho,”
said Steven Remington, executive director of the
Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. “They are so
sincerely moved by the students who come here to
see them, too. It’s a very special relationship
that Lionel Hampton enabled us to have here with
jazz music and our young musicians. It just
keeps getting better.”
The festival includes evening concerts featuring
some of the biggest names in jazz, free student
performances, and free and low-cost workshops
and clinics.
The Wednesday, February 19 opening night
concert, presented by Avista Corp., will feature
NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson, Ken Peplowski,
Grace Kelly with the All-Star Quartet featuring
Josh Nelson, Shawn Conley, Bruce Forman and
Kevin Kanner, and the Lionel Hampton School of
Music Jazz Band 1 in the Student Union Building
Ballroom.
Golson, a multi-talented and internationally
famous jazz legend, continues to make important
contributions to the jazz world. He is the only
living jazz artist to have written eight
standards for jazz repertoire. Those standards
are still used in countless recordings
internationally. He has recorded over 30 albums
and written more than 300 compositions.
The Thursday, February 20 evening concerts,
presented by Pepsi, will feature the Ken
Peplowski and Terell Stafford Septet, NEA Jazz
Master Sheila Jordan with the All-Star Trio, and
Geoffrey Keezer.
Born in Cleveland, Peplowski made his
professional debut at age 10. By 19, he had
spent two years touring with the Tommy Dorsey
ghost orchestra. Peplowski settled in New York
City, where he played with Benny Goodman. He
signed with Concord in 1987 and has worked with
artists such as Mel Torme, Dee Daniels and
Rosemary Clooney. He was one of the top
clarinetists of the 1990s and a talented tenor
player.
Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania, Jordan
started singing at a young age. By her early
teens, she was performing semi-professionally in
Detroit clubs. She became a member of the vocal
trio Skeeter, Mitch and Jean. The trio worked
with Charlie Parker to sing versions of Parker’s
songs. In the early 1950s, she married Parker’s
pianist, Duke Jordan.
At only 17, Keezer joined the Art Blakey’s Jazz
Messengers as the last pianist. He worked
alongside artists such as Horace Silver, Bobby
Thimmons, Cedar Walton, James Williams and Benny
Green. After Blakey’s death, Keezer recorded
with Sunnyside, Blue Note, DIW/Columbia and
Sackville. He also performed and recorded with
the Contemporary Piano Ensemble and the Ray
Brown Trio. In early 2000, he teamed up with
Zero One.
The Friday, February 21 evening concerts,
presented by Alaska Airlines, will feature
Groove for Thought, Rene Marie and the
Yellowjackets.
Groove for Thought is comprised of seven
singers, combining swing with smooth jazz and
classic pop. The group of friends formed in
2000, meeting weekly in living rooms. Each
member of the group has ties to jazz education
in the Pacific Northwest, many of them as
experienced music teachers, and toured
throughout North America and Europe.
Marie’s style incorporates elements of jazz,
soul, blues and gospel. Marie has received
several awards throughout her career including
Best International Jazz Vocal CD by the Academie
Du Jazz in Paris, France. She has graced the
Billboard Charts multiple times, propelling her
to headliner status at major festivals in the
U.S. and abroad, including the Women In Jazz
festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts, the Spoleto Festival in
Charleston, S.C., the Edinburgh Jazz Festival in
Scotland and the Shanghai Jazz Festival in
China, among many others. She has just released
her newest album November, 2013, “I Wanna Be
Evil," a tribute to Eartha Kitt.
The Yellowjackets consists of Bob Mintzer,
Russell Ferrante, William Kennedy and newly
joined bassist Feliz Pastorius, all top-notch
L.A. session musicians. The original line-up,
assembled to record the 1979 solo album “The
Inside Story,” was released under the name of
then bandleader Robben Ford. During this initial
period the band’s sound combined elements of
blues, jazz fusion and progressive rock with
Ford contributing vocals. The group has since
moved in a more democratic direction with no
vocals and embraced a jazz-funk approach
overall. In May 2008, the Yellowjackets released
their 20th recording “Lifecycle.” The album was
nominated for the 2009 GRAMMY Awards in the
category of Best Contemporary Jazz Album. They
released their latest album, “A Rise in the
Road,” in June 2013.
The Saturday, February 22 evening concerts,
presented by Frontier Communications, will
feature the Lionel Hampton Jazz Youth Orchestra
with special guests Jason Marsalis, NEA Jazz
Master Benny Golson, followed by the NEA Jazz
Master Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Septet.
Palmieri was born in Spanish Harlem in 1936. At
an early age, he started playing piano. By age
13, he joined his uncle’s orchestra, where he
played timbales. He began his professional
career in the early 1950s with Edie Forrester’s
Orchestra. He joined Johnny Segui’s band in
1955. By 1961, he had formed his own band La
Perfecta, which featured a trombone section in
place of trumpets.
For more information, visit
www.uidaho.edu/jazzfest. |
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