Performing Arts Fort Worth Presents UNT Jazz Artist Series at McDavid Studio

For the third year in a row, Performing Arts Fort Worth presents the University of North Texas Jazz Artist Series at McDavid Studio. The series kicks off Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 8:00 p.m. at McDavid Studio, 301 E. 4th St. Tickets are $20 for each show and are on sale NOW. A number of $5 student tickets are also available for a limited time.

The inaugural University of North Texas Jazz Artist Series at McDavid Studio was held over a three-month period in early 2009. An extension of the university's long-running spring jazz lectures, which began in 1982, the series spotlights the talents of the lecture participants. After delivering daytime lectures to UNT students, the artists perform evening shows at McDavid.

This year's performers are Marvin Stamm (Jan. 25), Steve Turre (Feb. 1), Larry Goldings (Feb. 8), Adam Nussbaum (Feb. 15), Bill Moring (March 8) and James Spaulding (March 22). All shows begin at 8:00 p.m.

University of North Texas Jazz Faculty members will help back some of the performers, as well as students from UNT's Jazz Studies program.

While the UNT campus offers plenty of places to stage such a series, McDavid Studio was chosen as host because of the strong relationship between the venue and the campus' music school. The University of North Texas' acclaimed One O'Clock Lab Band regularly plays McDavid, an intimate venue which seats about 250 patrons.

This year's performers:
n Marvin Stamm (Jan. 25) is an accomplished trumpeter who was discovered - while a student at the University of North Texas - by Stan Kenton. After Stamm graduated, he performed with Kenton and his orchestra, and also moved to New York, where he immersed himself in the city's thriving jazz scene. In New York, he gained considerable recognition for performing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the Duke Pearson Big Band. Over the years, he has performed and/or recorded with Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Quincy Jones and George Benson. He has also released several solo records, including three in 2007.

n Steve Turre (Feb. 1) has been the Saturday Night Live Band trombonist since 1984 and he has won Down Beat Magazine's Best Trombonist Reader's Poll award five times. But he's equally known for playing another, slightly left-of-center instrument: the seashell. Turre grew up in the San Francisco area, where he was introduced to jazz, blues and mariachi music. While attending Sacramento State University, he joined the Escovedo Brothers salsa band, his foot in jazz's door. In the ‘70s, he toured and recorded with Ray Charles, Carlos Santana, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the latter of whom introduced Turre to the world of seashells. For more than three decades, Turre has incorporated this unusual instrument into his Latin-influenced music. He has mouthpieces custom-made for his shells, and he even leads a "shell choir" called Sanctified Shells, which released a record in 1993. In all, Turre has released 13 albums, including Rainbow People in 2008.

n Larry Goldings (Feb. 8) is a Grammy®-nominated pianist, organist, producer, composer and arranger. James Taylor fans will recognize him as the "one man band" who backed Taylor on recent tours. A native of Boston, Goldings moved to New York in the ‘80s and quickly found his footing as an in-demand pianist and organist. After tours and collaborations with Jon Hendricks, Sarah Vaughan and Jim Hall, Goldings began a residency at New York club Augie's, introducing him to even more fans and performers. Over the years, Goldings has worked with John Mayer, Norah Jones, Walter Becker, De La Soul, Tracy Chapman, John Scofield, Pat Metheny and dozens of others. In 2007, Goldings, Scofield and Jack DeJohnette received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album Individual or Group for their performance on the Trio Beyond album, Saudades.

n Adam Nussbaum (Feb. 15) was called "one of the finest drummers of the 1990s" by the All Music Guide. Growing up in Connecticut, Nussbaum initially gravitated toward bass, sax and piano before settling on drums at the age of 12. He moved to New York to study at the Davis Center and City College of New York; by the late ‘70s, he was already performing with John Scofield and Dave Liebman. Through the years, he has worked with Steve Swallow, Joe Henderson, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Sonny Rollins, James Moody and Sheila Jordan.

n Bill Moring (March 8) has been a part of New York's thriving jazz scene for more than two decades. The Indiana native moved to the Big Apple in the mid-80s, after performing with CAl Collins and Dizzy Gillespie when they swung through town. In New York, he worked with Mel Lewis and Woody Herman before receiving a National Endowment for the Arts Grant to study with Rufus Reid; he also studied under Homer Mensch. In 1987, Moring landed a gig with the Count Basie Orchestra and spent the next two years on the road. He has also collaborated with Frank Foster, Mel Torme, the Village Vanguard Orchestra and the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin Jazz Orchestra. Moring's most recent record is Spaces in Time, released in 2008.

n James Spaulding (March 22) is an alto saxophonist and flautist whose career spans five decades. A native of Indiana, Spaulding made a name for himself in Chicago in the late 1950's, backing jazz pioneer Sun Ra. After briefly returning to Indiana, Spaulding moved to New York in 1963, embarking on a lifelong musical journey that has found him backing jazz greats such as Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter and Duke Pearson, as well as releasing his own acclaimed solo records.
To charge tickets by phone, call (817) 212-4280 in Fort Worth; 1-877-212-4280 (toll free) outside Fort Worth; or order online at www.basshall.com. Tickets are also available at the Bass Performance Hall ticket office at 525 Commerce Street. Ticket office hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

 

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