NIU jazz faculty headline
‘Jazz Fest in DeKalb’

Jazz aficionados know the world-renowned NIU Jazz Ensemble.

What they may not know is the wonderful faculty professionals who teach in the jazz studies program in the NIU School of Music, which has produced outstanding ensembles and combos for more than 30 years.

On Saturday, Oct. 11, the public will have the rare opportunity to hear most of that faculty together at one time for a showcase concert that is the centerpiece of “Jazz Fest in DeKalb,” a day-and-a-half mini-festival. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. in the Egyptian Theatre, 135 N. Second St. Admission is $10, and $7 for students and senior citizens.

The concert will feature saxophonists Ron Carter, Steve Duke and John Wojciechowski; Art Davis, trumpet; Tom Garling, trombone; percussionists Robert Chappell, Rich Holly and Orlando Cotto; Marlene Rosenberg, bass, and Liam Teague, steel pan. Collectively, this group of musicians has worked with virtually every recognizable name in jazz over the past 30 years, and each maintains an active performing career in addition to their teaching duties.

Harold Kafer, chair of the Nehring Center for Culture and Tourism and dean of NIU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, said the concert is a rare occurrence.

“I’ve been at NIU since 1991 and I’ve never heard the entire jazz faculty in one place at one time,” Kafer said. “It took over a year of advance planning to find a viable date, given their professional schedules.”

“Jazz Fest in DeKalb” opens Friday, Oct. 10, when the DeKalb Gallery will host a jazz reception to celebrate the Jazz Fest and give jazz and art lovers a chance to indulge both interests.

A 3 p.m. Saturday lecture performance will take place at the Ellwood House Museum Visitor’s Center. Radio station WDCB music director and jazz host Paul Abella will present a lecture titled “Historic Trends and Jazz Today,” with musical assistance provided by students from the NIU jazz studies program.

Several downtown restaurants will host jazz dinners from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring student jazz combos.

As an incentive for non-locals to stay overnight, or for those in commuting distance to come back on Day Two, a special Sunday, Oct. 12, jazz brunch at The House restaurant in downtown DeKalb will feature the NIU Liberace Jazztet. This septet of senior and graduate students is recruited nationally to NIU and is supported by the Liberace Foundation.

On Sunday evening, the House will host a Jazz Wine Master dinner.

“Since improvisation is so central to jazz, I thought it would be great fun to take an improvisational approach to a wine dinner,” House owner Sven Hanson said. “We are going to let the wine master for the evening, Grant Olson and chef Eric Moss, improvise on the food and wine pairings. The results should be fun.”

Central to jazz studies at NIU is Carter, the program coordinator, who joined the university in 1993 after 18 years in the St. Louis area as a public school educator and freelance musician.

At NIU, he has established himself internationally as one of higher education’s most-respected jazz educators. In addition to a dizzying schedule as a guest conductor/clinician and guest artist, Carter’s current projects include serving as MidAmerican coordinator for the Essentially Ellington Project, sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and as a member of the Philadelphia National Jazz Curriculum Project-Miles 2001, St. Louis.

In the past 10 years, the NIU Jazz Ensemble has appeared at the Montreaux, North Sea, and Jazz à Vienne festivals. The NIU Liberace Jazztet appeared at the International Association for Jazz Education conference in Toronto and the JVC Jazz Festival in New York City. Alumni can be found in university jazz faculties and in performance venues internationally.

“Jazz Fest in DeKalb” is co-sponsored by the Nehring Center for Culture and Tourism of the DeKalb Park District, the City of DeKalb, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, Mainstreet DeKalb and the NIU School of Music. Additional sponsors are The House, Hillside, Eduardo’s and Rosita’s restaurants.

For more information, call the chamber at (815) 756-6306.

Schedule of Events

Friday, October 10, 2003

6 to 8 p.m. Jazz Reception
The DeKalb Gallery
161 E. Lincoln Hwy.

Saturday, Oct. 11

3 p.m. Lecture at Ellwood House Visitor’s Center
Paul Abella, WDCB Public Radio

5 p.m. Jazz Dinners
Downtown DeKalb Restaurants

7:30 p.m. Concert by NIU School of Music Jazz Faculty
Egyptian Theatre
135 N. 2nd Street

Sunday, Oct. 12

10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jazz Brunch featuring the Liberace Jazztet
House Restaurant
263 E. Lincoln Hwy.

6 p.m. Jazz Wine Masters Dinner
House Restaurant
263 E. Lincoln Hwy.

9-29-03