Jazz in July faculty perform July 19

The Jazz in July faculty will present its annual All Star Concert on Thursday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Performers will include 2012 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, Steve Kuhn, Music professor Jeff Holmes, professor emeritus Frederick Tillis and other improvisational masters from the program’s faculty.

Jazz in July is a concentrated two-week program, allowing participants to study jazz improvisation with some of the nation’s best jazz educators and artists.

Jordan is the pioneer of the bass and voice concept. She has recorded with many fine jazz musicians aside from her own recordings on High Note and Justintime records. Jordan still teaches and appears in concerts and clinics all over the world.

After graduation from Harvard College, Kuhn attended the Lenox School of Music where he met and played in a group with fellow students Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. While at Lenox, Kuhn met trumpeter Kenny Dorham and began a two-year stint, interrupted when Kuhn was asked to join John Coltrane's newly-formed quartet. He later played with Stan Getz and many other jazz masters and most recently he continues to tour widely throughout the world, with a strong following in Europe, and especially Japan where his CDs frequently appear on the jazz charts.

Holmes is professor of Music and director of Jazz and African-American Music Studies. Holmes received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He is a nationally published and commissioned composer/arranger and multiple recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Composition Grants.

Tillis is professor emeritus in the Department of Music and Dance and director emeritus of the Fine Arts Center and artistic director of the Jazz in July Workshops in Improvisation. In addition to his very active career as a jazz saxophonist, Tillis has published seven books of poetry.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for senior and student tickets with ID and are available from the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 545-2511 or online.

Photo: Fred Tillis and Jeff Holmes

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