PULLMAN – The 2006 Washington State University Jazz Festival will be Nov. 8 on the WSU campus.
A highlight of the festival will be a gala concert from 12-1p.m. featuring guest saxophonist Brent Jensen performing with the award-winning WSU Jazz Big Band directed by Greg Yasinitsky. Also performing will be Jazz Northwest, a faculty group, featuring Jennifer Scovell, vocals; Yasinitsky, saxophone; Horace-Alexander Young, woodwinds; David Turnbull, trumpet; Anthony Taylor, piano and clarinet; David Snider, bass; and Joe Covill, drums. The concert will be presented in Bryan Hall Theatre and will be free of charge.
The program will start with Jazz Northwest’s performance of “Love Came Knocking on My Door” composed by Scovell and Yasinitsky, followed by the Jazz Big Band’s presentation of “Two Seconds to Midnight” composed by Alan Baylock, composer for the USAF Airmen of Note Big Band. Jensen will be featured with the Jazz Big Band in Don Piestrup’s “New Blues,”
Thelonious Monk’s “I Mean You” arranged by Yasinitsky, “My Foolish Heart” arranged by Dave Rivello and the bebop classic “Cherokee” arranged by Frank Mantooth.
Additionally, the festival will feature school groups from throughout the Northwest performing in Kimbrough Concert Hall from 7:40 – 11:40a.m. and from 1:30-4:30 pm. Jensen and WSU faculty members will also present clinics throughout the day.
Special guest for the festival is saxophonist Brent Jensen, director of jazz studies at the College of Southern Idaho, a WSU alum and Origin Records recording artist.
His recording, The Sound of a Dry Martini: Remembering Paul Desmond charted at the #1 position on jazz radio stations across the country. “Dry Martini” was also featured on JazzWeek’sTop 100 and NPR’s Jazzworks’ Top 25 lists for the year.
Brent studied in New York City with alto saxophone legend Lee Konitz, and was a winner of the Woodwinds on Fire talent search conducted by Jazzizmagazine in 1996. Brent has performed with a variety of jazz artists including Gene Harris, Bill Watrous, Lew Soloff, John Stowell, Bobby Shew, the Manhattan Transfer and the Lionel Hampton Big Band.
The WSU Jazz Festival is supported by the WSU School of Music and Theatre Arts, the WSU Jazz Society and the ASWSU Student Entertainment Board (SEB).
