Cortland Repertory Theatre Downtown Welcomes the Cornell Jazz Ensembles

Cortland Repertory Theatre Downtown at 24 Port Watson Street in Cortland is proud to present The Jazz Ensembles from Cornell University with a unique and exciting concert on Friday October 25 at 7:30 PM. Directed by Paul Merrill, the talented student musicians will present a concert entitled "Mythology, Folklore, and Freedom: Train Imagery in Early Blues, Folk, Jazz and Pop." With a central theme of songs about trains and "riding the rails", the concert features music by Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Bob Marley, Arlo Guthrie, Thelonious Monk, Lead Belly, Elizabeth Cotton, Henry Thomas, Mary Lou Williams, and The O'Jays. Special guest musician/singer Miché Fambro will also join the group, bringing his own unique sound to the concert. Tickets for $10.00 for adults and seniors, and $8.00 for youth under 22.

Director Merrill was introduced to jazz by performing with upstate New York mentors Steve Brown, Joe Salzano, and Spiegle Wilcox. These early experiences helped shape his career as a trumpeter by instilling the importance of the jazz tradition and exploring the endless possibilities of improvised music. He toured with Hank Roberts, Half Pint, John Brown's Body, and the Grammy-nominated Phil Woods Big Band and more recently performed with such notables as Freda Payne, Janis Siegel, Natalie Cole, Javon Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and Chris Vidala. As a large ensemble director, Merrill has commissioned works from Jim McNeely, Paul Smoker, Steve Brown and Rufus Reid and has hosted such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Maria Schneider, Joshua Redman, Wallace Roney, and James Moody as collaborative performers with Cornell student ensembles. He earned a B.M. in jazz performance from William Paterson University, M.M. in performance from Ithaca College, and studied at the Eastman School of Music as a graduate student from 2005-2016. Former faculty at the Ithaca College School of Music, Merrill is currently a Senior Lecturer and the Gussman Director of the Cornell University Jazz program, a post he has enjoyed for close to two decades.

To order tickets, visit www.cortlandrep.org for online sales 24 hours a day, or call the Cortland Repertory Theatre Box Office at 607-753-6161 or drop by CRT Downtown at 24 Port Watson Street in downtown Cortland from 9:00 - 5:00, Monday - Friday.

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