News Release

Local angles: Elizabeth City;
Fayetteville; Dallas, Texas

Photo: To download photos, see end of story.

Jazz standards, new compositions 
on tap for free concert Oct. 25

CHAPEL HILL – New interpretations of jazz standards are on the menu for an Oct. 25 concert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A trio of music department faculty members will perform the free public concert at 8 p.m. in Hill Hall Auditorium.

Also on the program are compositions by two of the artists, pianist Stephen Anderson, assistant professor of jazz studies and composition, and bassist John Brown, a lecturer in the department. Thomas Taylor Jr., who teaches drum set and coaches combos in the jazz studies program, will play drums.

Anderson came to UNC recently from Western Illinois University, where he was assistant professor of jazz piano and performed in a faculty jazz sextet. He teaches composition and jazz studies courses.

His compositions have been commissioned or performed by groups including the U.S. Military Academy Band, the Dallas Chamber Symphony, the Crested Butte Chamber Orchestra and various jazz ensembles.

Anderson’s honors include an outstanding performance award in 2001 from Downbeat magazine and several student honors in college.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University in 1997 and a master’s at the University of North Texas in 2000, both in music composition. He is now a doctoral candidate in composition at North Texas.

Brown teaches bass, co-conducts the UNC Jazz Band, conducts the UNC Jazz Lab Band and coaches jazz combos and orchestra sectionals. He also is a professor and director of the jazz program at Duke University, where he conducts the Duke Jazz Ensemble.

Brown graduated from the music school at UNC-Greensboro and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law. He first performed with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra at age 13 and continued, as principal bass, while in high school.

He earned a Grammy nomination for performance and co-writing on Durham vocalist Nnenna Freelon's 1995 album "Shaking Free." He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Hollywood Bowl and festivals including the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Brown performs with the North Carolina Symphony, the Opera Company of North Carolina and the Carolina Ballet. He is on the boards of directors of the American Federation of Musicians and the North Carolina Jazz Foundation.

Taylor, a native of Elizabeth City, is an adjunct faculty member in jazz studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. He graduated from UNC-Greensboro in 1991 with specialties in music education and percussion. There, he and Brown started the jazz quartet "In the Black," which has performed across the United States and Japan.

Taylor has taught at the Music Academy of North Carolina in Greensboro – previously, Greensboro Music Academy – and N.C. Central University in Durham.

He also teaches at summer camps run by jazz musician and educator Jamey Aebersold and performs in jazz concerts throughout the Southeast. He plays regularly at The Cathedral of HIS Glory in Greensboro and on Total Christian Television’s "A Word From Glory."

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Photo URLs: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/other/anderson_stephen2.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/other/brown_john.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/other/taylor_thomas.jpg

Music department contact: Glenn McDonald, (919) 962-1039, gmcdonal@email.unc.edu

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589