KU Jazz Ensemble I to perform in Monterey Jazz’s Next Generation Jazz Festival


Fri, 03/22/2019

author

Christine Metz Howard

LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dan Gailey, was selected as one of six collegiate big bands internationally to perform in the 49th annual Next Generation Jazz Festival this April.

Presented by the Monterey Jazz Festival, the event, which runs from April 5 to 7, brings together more than 1,300 of the nation’s top middle school, high school and college student musicians. It features more than 100 big bands, combos, vocals ensembles, vocal soloists, conglomerate bands and special guests.

Finalists are selected through recorded auditions that are reviewed by a panel of nationally renowned jazz educators. The winning ensembles from each of the festival’s competitive divisions are invited to perform at the 62nd annual Monterey Jazz Festival in September.

“It is a great honor to once again be chosen as a finalist for this year’s Next Generation Jazz Festival. The festival is one of the most prestigious jazz education events in the world, and we are thrilled to represent the KU School of Music,” said Gailey, who is the director of jazz studies at KU.

The KU Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Gailey, is the flagship ensemble within the KU Jazz Studies Program. The ensemble first performed at the Next Generation Jazz Festival in 2017.

In July 2018, Jazz Ensemble I played 10 shows in 13 days as part of a European tour that included appearances by invitation at three of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals – the Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz and the Jazz À Vienne Festival. Jazz Ensemble I performed Gailey’s flamenco suite "Palos Nuevos" at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in April 2018. In April 2016, the ensemble performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City with internationally acclaimed vocalist Deborah Brown.

The program has received 25 DownBeat Student Music Awards, including Jazz Ensemble I’s 2015 award in the Graduate Division for Best College Big Band in the United States or Canada, and their Outstanding Performance Award in the same division in 2017.                                                                                                                                                            

More information on the KU School of Music and the KU Jazz Studies program can be found at music.ku.edu/jazz. More information on the Next Generation Jazz Festival can be found at montereyjazzfestival.org/NGJF.

 

Jazz Ensemble I

Dan Gailey, director

 

SAXOPHONES:

Luis Matos, Kansas City, Kansas

Sophia Hollman, Shawnee

Misha Olarrea, Tucson, Arizona

Sam Boyd, Leawood

Zachary Dixon, Lawrence

 

TRUMPETS:

Robert Vandivier, Orlando, Florida

Bennett Lawrence, Leawood

Nathan Hasterlik, Reno, Nevada

Nathan Lee, Imperial, Missouri

 

TROMBONES:

Colin Wreath, Andover

Joseph Hartung, St. Louis

Ian Warshaw, Overland Park

P.J. Kelley, Olympia, Washington

 

RHYTHM SECTION:

Alex Frank, guitar, Topeka

Donovan Miller, piano, Woodbury, Minnesota

Matt MacKay, bass, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Alex Annan, bass, Omaha, Nebraska

Vaughn Craddock, drums, Wichita.

Fri, 03/22/2019

author

Christine Metz Howard

Media Contacts

Christine Metz Howard

International Affairs