The Lee University Jazz Ensemble
Lee University’s Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Alan Wyatt, will perform on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Dixon Center.
Music from Count Basie, Maria Schneider, Kenny Wheeler, and Professor Wyatt will be performed. Also featured on the program is Dr. José Ruiz, assistant professor of music business, on flute.
The Lee University Jazz Ensemble performs traditional and recent literature for the traditional Big Band. The ensemble comprises sections of wind and brass instruments, including saxophones, trumpets, and trombones, as well as rhythm section instruments. A frequent award winner at national festivals, the ensemble performs for campus, school, and civic events.
Mr. Wyatt, an assistant professor of music at Lee, has shared the stage with several artists, including Frank Sinatra Jr., The Temptations, The Four Tops, Doc Severinsen, and Clay Aiken, among others. Among his many duties, Wyatt teaches courses in music business and serves as its area coordinator for the Musicianship Studies Department of the School of Music.
Admission to the concert is free and open to the public.
The Lee University Small Jazz Ensemble will present its fall concert in the Dixon Center on Monday at 7:30 p.m., under the direction of Dr. José Ruiz, James Ward, and Dr. Nathan Warner.
The evening’s performance will feature arrangements of Sting’s “Fragile,” Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” B.B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone,” and Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time,” among others.
For the first time, two small jazz ensemble groups will perform, with section one directed by Dr. Warner and Mr. Ward and section two by Dr. Ruiz and Mr. Ward. The groups include drums, vocals, saxophone, bass, guitar, piano, trumpet, and percussion.
“These students are extremely gifted and hardworking, making it a true joy to work with them this semester,” said Dr. Ruiz. “By fostering an independent learning environment, each ensemble member contributed and imprinted their unique identity to all of the arrangements.”
The Lee University Small Jazz Ensembles perform traditional and recently written literature for small ensembles. A frequent award winner at national festivals, the ensembles performs for campus, school, and civic events.
Dr. Ruiz, assistant professor of music business, has a solid history of achievement in performance, production, education, clinician work, and research. He is a Latin Grammy Award winner and a recipient of 42 International Downbeat Student Music Awards over the last 11 years.
Mr. Ward, commercial piano instructor, has toured the United States, Canada, and Europe as a recording artist and singer/songwriter. As an educator, he has served as a guest lecturer with the Thomas F. Staley Foundation on college campuses including Covenant, Geneva, Eastern, Gordon, Calvin, and Malone Colleges.
Dr. Warner, assistant professor of music, performs regularly as a classical, orchestral, commercial, big band, and jazz artist in New York City, where he lived for 15 years. An advocate for music education for inner city youth, he served as the music teacher at St. Mark the Evangelist School in Harlem, New York.
The event is free, non-ticketed, and open to the public.
For more information about the concert and other School of Music events, call 614-8240 or visit http://www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/music/.
The Lee University Small Jazz Ensemble