News Release

Local angles: Cary, Chapel Hill, Charlotte,
Clemmons, Durham, Greensboro, Hillsborough,
Hope Mills, Kernersville, Pikeville, Raleigh

Note: Accompanying releases are posted at
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/jazz021706.htm and 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/jazzschedule021706.htm

Festival to feature artists
from jazz greats to students

CHAPEL HILL — Following are capsule biographies of the artists and ensembles that will perform in the 29^th Carolina Jazz Festival, March 1-4 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Concerts by the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra also are part of the 2005-2006 Carolina Performing Arts Series in Memorial Hall.

The festival Web site is http://www.unc.edu/music/jazzfest/.

Marquee concert artists:

O’Farrill is the son of Cuban composer Chico O’Farrill, whom many regard as the Duke Ellington of Latin jazz. Arturo O’Farrill performed with the Carla Bley Big Band before going solo, playing with greats including Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis. In 2003, O’Farrill won the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award.

In 2002, O’Farrill and Marsalis founded the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra for Jazz at Lincoln Center to highlight the many contributions of Afro-Latin jazz composers and performers.

"Much of New Orleans jazz was born in dance halls and speakeasies," O’Farrill said. "The same thing was happening in Latin music in Havana. … One reason was the African expression in Cuba (and New Orleans), where generations of slaves had taken root."

Composed of 18 prominent soloists from the Latin jazz scene, the orchestra is the second resident orchestra of Jazz at Lincoln Center, joining the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Marsalis.

North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra

The orchestra, which performs and teaches throughout the state, comprises

18 of the finest professional jazz musicians in North Carolina. Jazz festival director James Ketch, a UNC professor of music and director of the jazz studies program, also is music director for the orchestra.

The orchestra embraces both tradition and innovation, performing the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman as well as compositions by contemporary jazz composers. Its festival performance will feature artists in residence Don Braden, Sean Jones and Vincent Gardner.

A Cincinnati native, Braden has toured the world with jazz greats Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes and others. Haynes calls him "one of the new young lions of the tenor saxophone." Braden has recorded on nearly 50 compact discs as a sideman and produced 12 compact discs as a leader.

He spent four years as co-music supervisor and composer for Bill Cosby’s most recent CBS sitcom, "Cosby," now in syndication. He also co-wrote the theme song for Cosby’s current CBS cartoon series, "Little Bill." He teaches for Litchfield Performing Arts, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the North Netherlands Conservatory in Holland and at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J.

While attending college in Florida, Gardner took a summer job in a jazz band at Walt Disney World. There he caught the ear of Duke Ellington’s son, Mercer, prompting his move to New York and career in music.

Gardner performs with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, has toured with Grammy Award-winner Lauryn Hill and has performed or recorded with The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, The Count Basie Orchestra, the Saturday Night Live Band, Chaka Khan, Marcus Roberts, matchbox twenty and Nancy Wilson. He teaches at Florida State University.

Trumpeter Marvin Stamm says, "This young man is the Real Deal." Jones was hand-picked by Wynton Marsalis to as lead trumpeter for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

He has led his own groups, released two solo compact discs and performed with the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, the Cleveland Jazz and Gerald Wilson orchestras, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the International Jazz Quintet and the Louis Armstrong Legacy Band.

Jones earned an undergraduate degree in classical trumpet performance from Youngstown State University and a master’s degree from Rutgers University. He teaches at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

This ensemble of 10 UNC undergraduates and two community musicians performs the Cuban charanga style of music on flute, violins, piano, bass, and brass and percussion instruments.

Its repertoire is mostly associated with danzón, a musical and dance style with roots in European light classical and Afro-Cuban music. Charanga played a central role in the development of salsa music in the 1960s and 1970s in New York City.

UNC’s Charanga Carolina specializes in Cuban danzón and early New York-style salsa music. Directed by David F. García of the UNC music faculty, Charanga Carolina is committed to important repertories in the history of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Latin dance music

The flagship of the UNC music department’s jazz studies program, the 20-member UNC Jazz Band performs a wide variety of big band classics. Its repertoire ranges from music of the 1920s to contemporary selections.

Band director James Ketch, a UNC music professor and jazz studies program director, said the band allows students to develop musicianship, style and improvisational tools that can enable them to become professional artists, should they choose to do so.

The band has recorded three compact discs and performed – by invitation – at three of Europe’s most prestigious summer jazz festivals, including Jazz aVienne in France; the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland; and the North Seas Festival, The Netherlands.

The four UNC Jazz Combos range in size from a quintet to an octet and focus on small group improvisation. The student musicians write and develop many of their own arrangements. In contrast to the UNC Jazz Band, the combos perform highly specialized programs that might be called the chamber music of jazz.

UNC music faculty members Stephen Anderson, James Ketch and Ed Paolantonio direct the combos.

Approximately 50 UNC students are enrolled in jazz band and jazz combo classes each semester.

High schools with bands and combos participating in the North Carolina Regional "Essentially Ellington" High School Jazz Festival on March 2 will be:

Cary: Green Hope High School
Chapel Hill: Chapel Hill High School, East Chapel Hill High School
Charlotte: Charlotte Catholic High School
Clemmons: West Forsyth High School
Durham: Jordan High School
Greensboro: Southeast Guilford High School
Hillsborough: Cedar Ridge High School, Orange High School
Hope Mills: South View High School
Kernersville: Glenn High School
Pikeville: Charles B. Aycock High School
Raleigh: Enloe High School

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Festival contact: James Ketch, (919) 962-7560, jketch@email.unc.edu
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-4093 spurrk@email.unc.edu
News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595