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Michael LeDonne Trio to teach, perform jazz Nov. 7-8 at UNC

CHAPEL HILL -- Veteran jazz pianist Michael LeDonne, a faculty member at the Juilliard School in New York, will bring his trio to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this weekend to teach jazz students and perform two free concerts.

Besides conducting rehearsals with the UNC Jazz Band and UNC Jazz Combos Friday (Nov. 7) and Saturday (Nov. 8) afternoons, the trio will perform Friday on its own and Saturday with the student ensembles.

Both concerts will be at 8 p.m. in Hill Hall Auditorium. The Saturday performance will feature works for big bands, quartets and trios, with music by Wayne Shorter, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, LeDonne and others.

Friday, the trio will work in 107 Hill with the UNC Jazz Band from 1-2 p.m. and the UNC Jazz Combos from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, LeDonne and crew will rehearse with the band again from 1-2:15 p.m. in Hill Hall Auditorium, then split up for master classes with UNC students from 2:30-3:45 p.m. LeDonne will give a piano class in 107 Hill; bassist Nat Reeves will teach in 103 Hill; and Joe Farnsworth will have the Hill auditorium rolling with a drum set clinic. Members of the public may observe the rehearsals and master classes.

LeDonne graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music and has played with jazz greats including Benny Goodman, Al Grey, Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Joshua Redman and Harry "Sweets" Edison. He has toured with the Newport All-Stars and recorded as a sideman for many jazz artists. LeDonne also has issued eight compact discs as a band leader.

The clinics and concerts are sponsored by the Jamey Aebersold Visiting Jazz Artists Series and the UNC music department. Aebersold, a jazz saxophonist, gave the department funding to bring visiting artists to campus. He is known among musicians for his Aebersold Play-A-Longs, which number more than 90 volumes. The book and recording sets allow musicians to practice and improvise with well-known jazz personalities whom Aebersold has captured on tape.

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Note: A media kit for LeDonne is available at www.sonicbids.com/na/epk_frameset.asp?t_id=523.

Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/visiting/ledonne_110403.jpg

Contact: Glenn McDonald, (919) 962-1039
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589