Jazz Festival features Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars

  Tuesday, February 26, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Jazz Festival features Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band will be the featured performer for Pittsburg State University’s 39th Annual Jazz Festival on Friday, March 1. The band will perform at 7:30 p.m. in Pittsburg’s Memorial Auditorium.

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band was formed in 1998 to perform Gillespie's classic big band repertoire and continue the legacy he left when he died in 1993.  The band includes many Gillespie alumni, associates and collaborators.

PSU’s long-running jazz festival is an opportunity for area junior high school, high school and community college groups to perform for and receive ratings from renowned jazz educators from across the country. This year’s jazz faculty come Texas State University, Hope College, the University of Michigan, Edison College of Florida and other universities.

Bob Kehle, a member of the faculty in PSU’s Department of Music, directs the university’s jazz studies program and has organized the Jazz Festival since 1978. The festival was founded by current Music Department Chairman Rusty Jones in 1974.

“What makes the PSU Jazz Festival such a great event is the opportunity for aspiring young jazz musicians to perform for and learn from some of the finest jazz educators in the U.S.,” Kehle said. “It is a testament to the strength of the Jazz Festival that so many great jazz educators are eager to participate in this event.”

The festival’s history and reputation is one big reason that it draws so many participants from such a wide area, Kehle said. This year, dozens of schools from Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa, and Springfield are registered, as well as many from the immediate four-state area.

The festival is so large that in addition to using the Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall and the Overman Student Center, the also occupies both the upper and lower levels of Pittsburg’s Memorial Auditorium. The daytime performances run from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

Tickets are required for the evening performance, which in addition to the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, includes the PSU Jazz Ensemble I. Tickets are $15 for adults on the main floor and $10 for PSU faculty and staff and persons 65 and older or 17 and under. Full-time PSU students are admitted free.

For ticket information, call 620-235-4796, or visit www.pittstate.edu/tickets online.

Schools registered for the PSU Jazz Festival:

Pittsburg (Kan.) High School

Independence (Kan.) High School

Baxter Springs (Kan.) High School

Girard (Kan.) High School

Riverton (Kan.) High School

Iola (Kan.) High School

Blue Valley Southwest High School (Overland Park, Kan.)

Blue Valley Northwest High School (Overland Park, Kan.)

Olathe (Kan.) Northwest High School

Olathe (Kan.) South High School

Pioneer Trail Junior High School (Olathe, Kan.)

Prairie Trail Junior High School (Olathe, Kan.)

Saint Thomas Aquinas High School (Overland Park, Kan.)

Spring Hill (Kan.) High School

Wichita (Kan.) Northwest High School

Maize (Kan.) Junior High School

Kansas City Kansas Community College

Carl Junction (Mo.) Junior and Senior High School

Diamond (Mo.) High School

Central High School (Springfield, Mo.)

Glendale High School (Springfield, Mo.)

Hickory Hills Middle School (Springfield, Mo.)

Pershing Middle School (Springfield, Mo.)

Pleasant View Middle School (Springfield, Mo.)

Ozark (Mo.) High School

Republic (Mo.) High School and Middle School

Willard (Mo.) High School

Strafford (Mo.) High School.

Grandview (Mo.) Middle School & High School

Martin City Middle School (Grandview, Mo.)

Winnetonka High School (Kansas City, Mo.)

Northgate Middle School (Kansas City, Mo.)

Raytown (Mo.) High School.

Seneca (Mo.) High School and Junior High

Neosho (Mo.) High School

Nevada (Mo.) High School and Middle School

Webb City (Mo.) High School.

Union High School (Tulsa, Okla.)

 


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