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 Deacon-Joyner, Director of Jazz Studies
Last News Update: 6/17/09
Jazz at PLU continues to grow in size and quality. From May 25-June 8, 2009, the University Jazz Ensemble, along with the wind ensemble, took a two-week concert tour of China. There were concerts at music conservatories in Beijing, Xi'an, 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. At noon Thursday, December 10, the University Jazz Ensemble will perform for the annual KPLU Christmas Jam, a live concert broadcast on KPLU.FM. This year, the UJE will have an encore performance with jazz vocalist Sara Gazarek. Attendance for the concert is free, but it does require tickets, or you can listen on the air at 88.5 FM or on the web at www.kplu.org. We also want to highlight the fourth of our Valentine's Day concerts, "Composers of the Great American Songbook," featuring faculty members David Deacon-Joyner on piano, Clipper Anderson on bass, and guest vocalists Gail Pettis and Dennis Hastings. Finally, we would like to highlight a special concert during Black History Month on February 17, 2010. It is the second "Music From the Age of the Harlem Renaissance" concert, co-sponsored by the music department and the PLU Diversity Center. It will feature not only the University Jazz Ensemble, but the Choir of the West, members of the University Symphony Orchestra, vocalist Gail Pettis, and guest readers of Harlem Renaissance prose. Featured music will include the overture to Scott Joplin's only extant opera "Treemonisha," "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday, Fat's Waller's "Rusty Pail Blues" (on pipe organ!), selections by Duke Ellington, and hymns and spirituals by Hall Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Moses Hogan.
|
|
Jazz Under the Stars
PLU's annual Jazz Under the Stars summer concert series grows in popularity each year. The summer of 2008 marked the tenth anniversary of JUTS, and featured nationally known professional jazz artists. There was a gala 10th anniversary kickoff concert on July 8, 2008 at Tacoma's Museum of Glass, featuring gypsy swing band Pearl Django and Seattle vocalist Greta Matassa. The 2009 concert series will begin on Thursday, July 9 in the outdoor ampthitheater of the Mary Baker Russell Music Center on the PLU campus. The series is sponsored by the PLU music department, KPLU 88.5 FM, and Café Vida Coffee. The series is free to the public and runs Thursdays for six weeks, 7:00-9:00 p.m. There are free refreshments and stargazing after the last three concerts at PLU's Keck Observatory, weather permitting.
Click here for a history of Jazz Under the Stars
The lineup for the 2009 series is:
July 9: Kareem Kandi (Tacoma saxophonist)
July 16: Dina Blade (Seattle vocalist)
July 23: Dan Kramlich (Seattle pianist and PLU jazz faculty member)
July 30: Island Jazz Quintet (Vashon Island jazz group)
August 6: David Deacon-Joyner Trio (led by Dr. David Deacon-Joyner, pianist, Director of PLU Studies and JUTS producer)
August 13: Gary Scott (Olympia saxophonist, formerly with Frank Sinatra)
PLU Jazz Ensemble Concerts 2009-2010
September 24: PLU Regency Jazz Ensemble (Jazz Faculty), Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center, 8:00 p.m.
October 9: University Jazz Ensemble, Chris Knutzen Hall, University Center, 8:00 p.m.
November 20: University Jazz Ensemble, Chris Knutzen Hall, University Center, 8:00 p.m.
December 1: PLU Combos "Final Exam" concert, The Cave, University Center, 5:00 p.m.
December 10: University Jazz Ensemble, KPLU annual Holiday Jazz Jam broadcast, Lagerquist Hall, Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center with guest vocalist Sara Gazarek, 12:00 noon
February 14:David Deacon-Joyner and Friends, Annual Valentine's Day Concert "Composers of the Great American Songbook," Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center, 3:00 p.m., with PLU jazz faculty members David Deacon-Joyner on piano, Clipper Anderson on bass, and popular area jazz vocalists Gail Pettis and Dennis Hastings
February 17: Music From the Age of the Harlem Renaissance, Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center, 8:00 p.m.
February 24-27: University Jazz Ensemble "East" Tour, including the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho in Moscow.
March 11:PLU Regency Jazz Ensemble (Jazz Faculty), Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center, 8:00 p.m.
March 19: University Jazz Ensemble, Chris Knutzen Hall, University Center, 8:00 p.m.
May 4: PLU Combos "Final Exam" concert, The Cave, Bottom floor of the University Center at PLU, 5:00 p.m.
May 7:University Jazz Ensemble, Chris Knutzen Hall, University Center, 8:00 p.m.
May 22:University Jazz Ensemble, Commencement Concert, MBR Amphitheater, following performances by other PLU music ensembles in Lagerquist Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center, 8:00 p.m.
| Back to Top | Jazz Faculty | Photos | PLU Music Homepage |
|
