The UTC Jazz Band will be presenting a free concert on Thursday, November 19, 7:30 p.m., Roland Hayes Concert Hall located in the UTC Fine Arts Center.
The band will feature guest vocalist Joy Divine who will sing jazz standards made famous by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Divine has been an active jazz vocalist in the Minneapolis area, where she sang with a band called The Gold Tones and in a jazz duo with guitarist Scott Dercks. She has performed with many groups in the Twin Cities at clubs, festivals, and private events.
The rest of the concert will feature music from the famous big bands of Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Gordon Goodwin, Thad Jones, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Maria Schneider, and Tommy Dorsey. The band’s director, Dr. Erika L. Schafer, is proud to present a diverse program, which includes music by an Asian composer and several female composers, as well as music that pays homage to African American vocalists.
A variety of styles, such as swing, funk, Latin, and contemporary will be explored as well as the blues, the ballad, and compound and mixed meters. Student soloists featured will include John Rose on trombone, Jon Elliott on alto sax, Aaron Bedell on baritone sax, Brad Jones on tenor sax, Hunter Helton on trumpet, and Mason Vail on piano.
Schafer is beginning her second year as Assistant Director of Bands and Trumpet Instructor at UTC. She runs the trumpet studio, directs the Jazz Band and Trumpet Ensemble, and is the Assistant Director of the Marching Band, Pep Band, and Symphonic Band. She is an active trumpeter in the Chattanooga area, having performed in the Chattanooga Jazz Festival and with the Chattanooga Bach Choir Orchestra. She has also been a frequent guest clinician throughout Tennessee.
For more information, please contact the UTC Music Department at 423-425-4601 or visit our website at http://utc.edu/music.
