Concerts and Events
Jazz Studies Courses and Ensembles

PLU Jazz News:

Welcome to the PLU Jazz web site. I hope this will be a useful source of information for PLU students, prospective students, and the many supporters of PLU jazz in the general public. In this "News" section, I have included some answers to frequently asked questions and recent items of interest. Contact me at the phone number and email above with questions or information.

Dr. David Joyner, Director of Jazz Studies

Last News Update: 9/2/08

Jazz at PLU continues to grow in size and quality. At the end of the 2008-9 academic year, the University Jazz Ensemble will, along with the wind ensemble, take a two-week concert tour of China. There will be concerts at music conservatories in Beijing, Xiang, Shanghai, and Chengdu, as well as an informal concert on the Great Wall. See the concert schedule below for details of our regular on-campus and area concerts. The concerts feature the student big band as well as our jazz faculty group, the PLU Regency Jazz Ensemble. From October 31 to November 1, PLU will host the first college invitational jazz festival by a consortium of Washington private college jazz programs, including PLU, UPS, Whitman, and Gonzaga. On November 9, the jazz ensemble will perform in an unusual collaboration. The Mary Baker Russell Music Center is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the installation of the Gottfried and Mary Fuchs pipe organ in Lagerquist Hall with a series of concerts throughout the academic year. The UJE will premiere "Un Poco Bud," a setting of compositions by jazz piano pioneer Bud Powell, featuring UJE director David Joyner as arranger and pianist, and Dr. Paul Tegels, PLU music faculty member and organist. The piece will be repeated on the UJE's concert on November 21st. We also want to highlight the third of our Valentine's Day concerts, "Composers of the Great American Songbook," featuring faculty members David Joyner on piano, Clipper Anderson on bass, and guest vocalists Greta Matassa and Dennis Hastings.