World-class jazz at WestConn continues
11th annual April jazz festival to feature Chick Corea Trio
DANBURY, CONN. ? Chick Corea is a legend in music ? mastering the genres of jazz, fusion, classical and pop. He?s displayed his piano virtuosity at leading venues throughout the world, and at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, Corea will bring his incredible talent to Western Connecticut State University. The Chick Corea Trio will perform at the 11th Annual WestConn/Litchfield Performing Arts Jazz Festival in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the university?s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury.
Corea?s discography, which is approaching 100 titles, dates back to 1966. This multiple-Grammy Award winner has won so many critic and reader?s polls that it?s difficult to keep track. Down Beat polls named him Composer of the Year, Pianist of the Year and Jazzman of the Year in 1973. The following year, a Jazz Forum poll named him Jazz Musician of the World. The honors continued: 1975 brought him Keyboardist of the Year, Composer of the Year, Best Jazz Act of the Year, Composer of the World and his first Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Group. The accolades have ensued at this level for more than 30 years, including his 2006 selection as a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master.
The NEA Jazz Masters Web site states, ?A ground-breaking artist both as a keyboardist (piano, electric piano, synthesizer) and as a composer-arranger, Chick Corea has moved fluidly among jazz, fusion, and classical music throughout a four-decade career, winning national and international honors including 12 Grammy awards. He ranks with Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett as one of the leading piano stylists to emerge after Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, and he has composed such notable jazz standards as ?Spain,? ?La Fiesta? and ?Windows.??
Ben Ratliff of the New York Times wrote, ?Mr. Corea expresses his virtuosity much as B.B. King does, or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did. He luxuriates onstage, as if at a banquet with witty friends. ? typical of the way he approaches music: dexterously, experimentally, with delighted hunger.?
Edward Kane, for jazzreview.com, wrote, ?Chick Corea easily rates as one of the greatest and most prolific artists in jazz history, whether the measuring stick is applied to the number and quality of his recordings or to the number of styles with which he has experimented and mastered during his long career. In his fifth decade at the pinnacle of jazz, Chick Corea?s recent CDs and performances show that age has done nothing to slow him down or dull his creative abilities and impulses.?
Manchester resident Shane Peters, who graduated with a bachelor?s degree in jazz guitar from WestConn and now is studying for his education certification here, couldn?t agree more.
?Chick Corea is one of ? if not the ? greatest jazz pianist on the planet,? Peters said. ?He?s played with everybody, and he?s that rare musician who is comfortable in a lot of different idioms. He?s played in the classical, pop and jazz worlds. To appreciate Chick Corea, you don?t have to be a fan of jazz; you just have to be a fan of music.?
Corea will perform with the Chick Corea Trio, featuring Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira and legendary bassist Eddie Gomez. Both Moreira and Gomez are celebrated jazz artists in their own right. In addition to the incredible learning experience for WestConn?s music students during the festival?s clinics, the community will be able to enjoy three consecutive evening concerts by world-class musicians during the festival.
An All-Star Jam Session featuring the festival?s clinicians ? Conrad Herwig (trombone), Mark Whitfield (guitar), Terrell Stafford (trumpet), Matt Wilson (drums), Don Braden (saxophone), Jeff Hellmer (piano) and Dave Ruffels (bass) ? will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall. Ticket prices will be $10 for adults, and $5 for senior citizens and non-WestConn students who are not participating in the festival. WestConn students will be admitted free with valid ID.
At 7 p.m. on Friday, April 28, in Ives Concert Hall, the WCSU Jazz Orchestra will perform with Grammy Award-winning artist Slide Hampton on trombone. Hampton, named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2005, is renowned for his work both as a performer and an educator. Two outstanding high school big bands selected during the festival also will perform. Tickets will be $10 for adults, and $5 for senior citizens and non-WestConn students who are not participating in the festival. WestConn students will be admitted free with valid ID.
Tickets for the Chick Corea Trio performance on Saturday, April 29, will be $30 for adults, and $20 for senior citizens and non-WestConn students who are not participating in the festival. WestConn students will be admitted free with valid ID.
Professor of Music Dr. Dan Goble, who oversees the jazz festival, is thrilled to bring Corea to Danbury.
?This festival keeps getting bigger and better,? Goble said. ?The students keep working harder and raising the bar. This is now a world-class event ? right here at WestConn. And it?s a group effort ? students, staff, faculty and the administration ? everybody pitches in. This university should be very proud of this event.?
WestConn, Litchfield Performing Arts and Education Connection will present the festival. Chick Corea?s appearance is made possible by a generous grant from the WCSU Student Government Association.
For more information, call (203) 837-8350 or visit http://www.wcsu.edu/music/events.html. To purchase tickets, go to http://www.tickets.com, or call (203) 837-8499.
VISITOR PARKING ADVISORY: Western Connecticut State University offers several convenient, centrally located parking spaces for visitors to the university?s Midtown and Westside campuses in Danbury. Midtown visitor parking is in the lot next to Old Main and in designated spaces next to University Hall. Parking in the university?s White Street garage is restricted to commuter students, faculty and staff from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; visitors are welcome to park in the garage all other times. Westside visitor parking is on University Boulevard. Visitors who cannot be accommodated in these parking areas are asked to call the University Police Department to make other arrangements. Up-to-date university parking rules and regulations, color-coded campus maps that show parking areas and shuttle bus stops, and shuttle bus schedules are available at http://www.wcsu.edu/parking. Call the University Police Department at (203) 837-9300 for more information about the parking rules and regulations.