The concert will feature Jones, Blakeslee, the UA Student Jazz Ensemble and the UA Wind Symphony, conducted by Galen Karriker. Concert tickets cost $12 or free for students. Jazz Week will culminate with a special concert, "Synthesis," at 7:30 p.m. at Guzzetta, including conversation with guest artists Jones and Blakeslee and faculty Coles and Brown, a Q&A and some jamming. Thursday night, a free Open Forum will be held at 7:30 p.m. He's now chair of jazz studies at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Jones, who has an undergraduate degree from YSU and a master's from Rutgers, is an international touring artist whose career ranges from leading the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra to playing in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Jones and Columbus native Blakeslee will talk about their jazz careers and how they relate to Ohio. at Guzzetta Recital Hall, 157 University Ave. Jazz Week events will move to UA Thursday, with a free, public convocation from 12:55 p.m. Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Jazz convocation, open forum in Thursday at Guzzetta On Wednesday, the UA Student Jazz Ensemble will perform in a show with Jones, Blakeslee, UA jazz faculty and guests at 8 p.m. Pros, students perform at Blu Jazz+ Wednesday "I'm also a trumpet player and Sean Jones is, in my opinion, one of the best jazz trumpet players out there," Reed said. Current guest Jones is also a major figure in the trumpet world, Reed said. Over the years, the UA festival has drawn international jazz stars including Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. The last, 17th annual Jazz Week was held in 2019 under retired jazz program director Jack Schantz, who taught both Brown and Coles. "It really just serves to kind of stoke their fire." "Exposing our students to world-class jazz musicians, it gets them a better understanding of where they fit into the lexicon of how jazz artists work," said Marc Reed, director of the UA School of Music and the School of Dance, Theatre and Arts Administration. It also gives UA jazz students access to the talents and experience of world-class jazz artists for the first since Jazz Week was put on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic. The 2023 festival's mission is to pay tribute to University of Akron and Akron jazz musicians of the past and celebrate the talent of today's artists and those coming up in the future. Local hip hop duo Free Black!, featuring Holbrook Riles III and Floco Torres, will follow. Music will start at about 7:30 p.m., featuring a set with Jones, Blakeslee, Brown, Coles and local bassist Aidan Plank and drummer Anthony Taddeo. The week begins Tuesday night at Edgar's Restaurant in Akron, starting with a meet and greet and hors d'oeuvres at 6:30 p.m. Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Jazz kickoff Tuesday at Edgar's Several new jazz majors and minors also have received scholarship support to start their studies in the fall, after a period where UA had no jazz majors. UA's Student Jazz Ensemble has grown by five musicians since the fall, with bass, piano and horn players added second semester. The festival is a signature event for saxophonist Coles and pianist Brown as they rebuild the jazz program. They'll be playing in four gigs with UA jazz faculty members Brown and Coles, the UA Student Jazz Ensemble and other local jazz artists. ![]() ![]() University of Akron Jazz Week 2023 will feature guest artists Sean Jones, a famed trumpeter and Warren native and New York-based trombonist and composer Sam Blakeslee, who studied jazz at Youngstown State University and received a 2013 master's in classical performance at The University of Akron. <Īs jazz artists and educators Chris Coles and Theron Brown rejuvenate the University of Akron Jazz Program, they've brought UA's Jazz Week back for the first time in four years. This article is a reprint of an article written by Kerry Clawson for the Akron Beacon Journal on March 31, 2023.
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