News Release

Photos: To download photos, see end of story.
Note: See links below for schedule, artist bios.

Garrett-Payton battle of bands
to headline Carolina Jazz Festival

CHAPEL HILL – Two of the top instrumentalists in jazz will rekindle the competitive fire that drove the early days of the genre during the 30th anniversary Carolina Jazz Festival

Other top artists also will perform and teach workshops during the festival, from Feb. 28 to March 3 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Four marquee performances will anchor the festival’s clinics, workshops, open rehearsals, concerts, discussion with visiting professional artists and late-night jam sessions in local establishments. Many of the performances will be free. For a schedule, visit http://www.unc.edu/music/jazzfest/index.html.

“We want our local audiences and student musicians to feel completely welcome to attend each and every event,” said festival director James Ketch, a music professor in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. “As we celebrate a major milestone in the history of the festival, we’re delighted to bring back artists who have performed in the jazz festival in the past.”

The marquee concerts will include a “Battle of the Bands” featuring saxophonist Kenny Garrett and trumpeter Nicholas Payton, at 8 p.m. March 2 in Memorial Hall’s Beasley-Curtis Auditorium. With their bands at opposite ends of the stage, the two will square off with alternating selections of original material and tunes of the jazz masters.

The North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra will bring alive the heat of a 1930s Kansas City jam session with “Jammin’ at the Reno: Count Basie and Kansas City Swing,” highlighting the music of Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Lester Young, Count Basie and others, on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial.

The performance will feature festival artists-in-residence Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, Ron Westray on trombone and saxophonist Steve Wilson.

The UNC Jazz Combos will present Fred and Gail Fearing’s “Jazz for a Friday Afternoon,” a free concert at 4 p.m. March 2 in 107 Hill Hall, with festival artists-in-residence Carrington, Westray and Wilson.

The festival will culminate with a March 3 concert by the UNC Jazz Band and the festival artists-in-residence, at 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall. The band, directed by Ketch, has performed in three European summer jazz festivals and released three compact discs.

On March 1 in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, jazz bands and combos from North Carolina high schools will compete in an “Essentially Ellington” High School Jazz Festival, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“Essentially Ellington” is an educational arm of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a New York nonprofit organization dedicated to jazz. The Ellington program disseminates the music of Duke Ellington, in original arrangements, to high school musicians across the country for study and performance.

All events will be open to the public. Tickets for events where admission is charged are on sale at the Memorial Hall box office (919-843-3333).

For more festival information, call the music department at (919) 962-1039. 

National and community sponsors of the festival include Double Time Records, Best Western, the University Inn, “Essentially Ellington,” Jamey Aebersold Jazz, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Jazz Foundation of North Carolina, Remo, WNCU 90.7 of N.C. Central University in Durham, WSHA 88.9 at Shaw University in Raleigh, Yamaha and Zildjian.

UNC sponsors include the Carolina Union Activities Board, Center for the Study of the American South, music department, Institute for African American Research, Boshamer professorships, James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, Office of the Executive Director of the Arts, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonians and UNC School of Education.

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Photo URLs:
Terri Lyne Carrington: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/jazzfest/carringtonbythomasdorn.jpg
Kenny Garrett: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/jazzfest/mgarret.jpg
James Ketch: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/jazzfest/jamesketchonflugelhorn.jpg
Nicholas Payton: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/jazzfest/cnpaytonbyvincentsoyez.jpg
Ron Westray: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/jazzfest/ronwestray.jpeg
Steve Wilson: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/jazzfest/stevewilson.jpg

For capsule bios of festival artists, visit http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/jazzbios021607.html

Music department contact: James Ketch, (919) 962-7560
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-4093