These trophies will stay with the recipients until next year’s jazz festival.įor more information about the KU Jazz Festival visit or contact the KU School of Music at 78 or music.ku.edu.Everyone else thinks they can do it better. Revolving trophies will be presented to the middle school, high school and college outstanding ensembles. Based on performance merit, visiting clinicians will select one group from the big bands and combos that perform each day to perform again on the evening concert. Admission is free.ĭuring the festival days, approximately 50 high school, middle school and college jazz ensembles from throughout the central United States will perform in the Burge Union Forum and in Murphy Hall. in the All Seasons Den at The Oread, 1200 Oread Ave. Matt Otto, a saxophonist and assistant director of the KU Jazz Studies Program, is a prominent Kansas City jazz musician.Īdmission to this year’s festival evening concerts is free, with a suggested donation to the KU School of Music.įollowing the evening concerts, the music continues with After Hours Jazz Sessions hosted by the Matt Otto Quartet and featuring special guests. The Matt Otto Combo, KU’s top student jazz combo, and the Outstanding Festival College Ensemble also will perform.

On March 2, Keberle’s band Catharsis, featuring saxophonist John Ellis, guitarist/vocalist Camila Meza, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Eric Doob, will headline the evening concert. The KU Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dan Gailey, is the flagship ensemble of the KU Jazz Studies Program.

The Festival All-Star Big Band is made up of KU music faculty, guest clinicians and professional jazz artists including drummer Mark Ferber, pianist Dawn Clement and trumpeter Hermon Mehari. The Outstanding Festival High School Ensemble also will perform. On March 1, Keberle will perform with the Festival All-Star Big Band and KU Jazz Ensemble I. Catharsis, Keberle’s celebrated piano-less group with its invigorating trombone-tenor saxophone frontline, agile rhythm section and the voice and guitar of Camila Meza, has toured internationally for years, with four acclaimed albums to their credit. He has performed extensively as a featured soloist with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, songwriter Sufjan Stevens, and with Darcy James Argue’s groundbreaking big band Secret Society. 1 Rising Star Trombonist and a player “of vision and composure,” according to The New York Times, Ryan Keberle has developed a one-of-a-kind voice both on his instrument and as a bandleader.

Hailed in the DownBeat International Critics Poll as No. The evening concerts feature a first-rate lineup of some of the most important and exciting musicians in the world of contemporary jazz, and daytime clinics and master classes allow students and community members to interact with world-famous jazz musicians outside of the concert hall. concerts both days in the Forum of the new Burge Union.įor more than four decades, the KU Jazz Festival has been one of the focal points for jazz performance and education in the central United States, providing the region an opportunity to hear and learn from world-class jazz musicians and educators. LAWRENCE - Special guests Ryan Keberle and his band Catharsis will headline the University of Kansas School of Music’s 42nd Jazz Festival held on Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2.

Kansas city jazz festival star