Photo by Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal, Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal
Joyce Cobb and her band will be ushering in 2009 during a New Year's Eve concert at Boscos Squared restaurant and brewery.
Feel free to get jazzed next week when you can swing with Slide Hampton, jump with Joyce Cobb and romp with Russell Wilson.
It's Jazz Week at the University of Memphis and those luminaries will be featured along with student showcases from combos to big bands.
Trombonist Slide Hampton headlines Jazz Week activities at the University of Memphis, featuring Memphis singer Joyce Cobb and pianist Russell Wilson.
Center for Southern Folklore
Joyce Cobb
Harris Concert Hall on the U of M campus becomes "Birdland" from Tuesday through Saturday. The annual event has been around for more than 30 years, says Dr. Jack Cooper, associate professor and Jazz and Studio Music area coordinator at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music.
"Jazz is alive and well," Cooper says, noting the school's two full-time jazz professors, several adjuncts and ongoing recording projects along with Jazz Week.
The big name coming to town is Slide Hampton, the Grammy Award-winning 76-year-old trombonist and arranger who has been performing since age 12. Hampton has gigged with a who's who of the jazz world: Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Thad Jones, Max Roach, Woody Herman, Dexter Gordon -- and the list goes on, including Memphis talents Booker Little and George Coleman. As a global jazz ambassador, prodigious arranger and all-around cool musician, he received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award in 2005.
Hampton will perform Saturday with U of M's Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra, the school's top jazz group that includes players from undergraduate and graduate levels.
At 1 p.m. on Saturday, Hampton will teach a master class at Harris Auditorium that is open to the public.
Joyce Cobb, the local jazz nightingale -- and an adjunct professor at U of M -- will take the stage on Friday with the Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra and the U of M Jazz Ensemble II, made up primarily of freshmen and sophomores.
Cobb -- billed as Memphis' Queen of Jazz -- is a local standard bearer who has also toured internationally and earned scads of recognition. She was once signed to Stax Records, recorded "Dig The Gold," for the Cream label -- which was a top-40 hit -- has opened for The Temptations, Muddy Waters and Al Jarreau, and performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
On Thursday, the U of M Faculty Jazz Players perform with Russell Wilson, an alumnus of U of M who is principal pianist with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Sinfonia as well as the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Wilson has accompanied the likes of Mel Tormé, Richard Hayman and Cab Calloway. As a world-class pianist, Wilson's performance on Thursday will include classical works relevant to jazz as well as straight-up jazz pieces.
Wilson will hold a master class Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in CFA room 137 at U of M.
Tuesday features U of M's jazz combos and Wednesday showcases vocal jazz groups.
Jazz Week
At the University of Memphis Tuesday through Saturday. All performances are at 7:30 at Harris Concert Hall. Admission is free Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and for the master classes. Joyce Cobb's concert March 6 and Slide Hampton's concert March 7 are $10 each. For tickets, call 678-6151 or 678-5400.
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