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The Sounds of Jazz
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Posted by schnaric Mon Feb 4, 2008 09:16:58 MST
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POCATELLO – The Idaho State University band program is

giving the community a chance to jazz it up the weekend of

February 8 & 9, 2008. 

The 20^th annual ISU Jazz Fest, featuring both student

and professional musicians, will be Friday and Saturday in the Stephen’s Performing Arts Center’s Jensen Grand Concert Hall. 

The event will include the Paul Tillotson Trio with special guest trumpeter, Lew Solof who is a veteran of such bands as Maynard Ferguson, Gill Evans, and Blood Sweat and Tears, and Mike Steinel on trumpet as the featured guest with the ISU Jazz I Big Band under the direction of Aric Schneller.  Jazz Bands from Pocatello, Century, Highland, ISU’s Jazz II Big Band and student jazz combo, and seven other regional high schools will have clinics with the professional musicians.  Each high school band will perform three selections. 

Longtime ISU Music Department Director of Bands Dr. Pat Brooks said the festival is one of the school’s premier musical events. 

“This is a time when we look forward to having professional jazz artists and teachers on campus so our students have a chance to work and perform with them and so we can bring jazz to the community,” Brooks said.

The two-day event will kick off Friday at 7:30 p.m. with the crowd-pleasing and serious-grooving Paul Tillotson Trio with Lew Solof on trumpet.  Saturday, Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas, Mike Steinel, will perform at 7:30 p.m. with ISU’s Jazz I Big Band. 

The high school bands will each play three songs Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Century band director Rodney Woodbury said the clinic will provide his students with a golden opportunity to learn from Steinel himself.

“It’s a chance for the kids to get a professional jazz musician’s help as they learn to play the language of jazz,” woodbury said, adding that his band is excited to work with professional musicians.

The Century jazz band will perform Rhythm of the Masses by Frank Mantooth, Things Ain’t What They Used To Be by Mercer Ellington, and Switch In Time by Sammy Nestico.

ISU Jazz I Big Band director Aric Schneller, a former member of the Grammy nominated University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band, originally hired during the Fall of 2006 to fill in for Dr. Brooks who was on sabbatical, is now in his 2^nd year of teaching at Idaho

State University.   

And while Schneller continues to play in several Southeast Idaho venues, the accomplished jazz musician said performing in the Jensen Grand Concert Hall is always a thrill. 

“It’s a wonderful gift.  The elegance and the sound of it – I feel very privileged to be able to perform there,” Schneller said.

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Comment From: Kerrberr2

Welcome to J Hub. Hope your event is a smash!!