UIC Jazz Ensemble shares stage with a legend Feb. 19
Videography by Anne Brooks Ranallo
It’s not every day that the UIC Jazz Ensemble gets the chance to perform with a legend.
The student musicians will share the stage Feb. 19 with Grammy-winning trumpeter Randy Becker, who has performed with artists from Frank Sinatra and Steely Dan to Funkadelic and Frank Zappa.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Illinois Room, Student Center East. Admission is $10 for the general public and $7 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at the door, online at http://bitly.com/1fVvT2P or by calling 312-996-6068.
Brecker will also give a free master class Feb. 18 at 1 p.m., open to the public as part of the Tuesdays-at-One concert series. The performance will be held in the lower-level recital hall of the Education, Theatre & Music and Social Work Building.
“Randy Brecker is a true jazz icon and one of the most important trumpet players of the last 50 years,” said jazz ensemble director Andy Baker.
“Having an artist of this stature working with our students for two days is a creative and educational experience that they will cherish well beyond their time at UIC.”
Brecker has been shaping the sound of jazz, rhythm-and-blues, rock and fusion for four decades.
His trumpet and flugelhorn performances have graced hundreds of albums by artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. His multiple Grammy Awards include the 2014 Grammy for best large jazz ensemble album for “Night in Calisia” with Polish composer Wlodek Pawlik and the Kalisz Philharmonic. Jazz Journal praised Brecker’s compositions as “magnificent edifices of aural architecture.”
Before Brecker performs with UIC’s 18-piece jazz group, music faculty will open the show with a performance by Baker on trombone, Ernie Adams on drums, Marquis Hill on trumpet, Stewart Miller on bass, Dan Murphy on piano, Zvonimir Tot on guitar and Cheryl Wilson on vocals.
The concert is also the finale for the UIC High School Jazz Festival, a day of competition and workshops for high-school bands.
