On Friday, April 8, Steve Brown will lead his big band in concert at 8:15 in Ford Hall.
Michael Weiss will be the guest piano soloist in a program that includes music of Ray Brown, Chick Corea, Michael Weiss, Joe Farrell, and others. Weiss, grand prize winner of the 2000 BMI/Thelonious Monk Institute Composers Competition, has established a formidable reputation working with such names as Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer and Wynton Marsalis. In addition to his demand as a sideman, Weiss' role as bandleader, recording artist, composer, arranger, and educator have earned him accolades from both audiences and critics: the Chicago Tribune called him "...one of the most dynamic young pianists in jazz."
Looking ahead to future jazz concerts at IC, Ithaca College's other jazz big band, under graduate director Keaton Akins, will perform on Thursday, April 14, at 8:15, in Ford Hall. Lew Soloff will be the trumpet soloist. And on Saturday, April 16, at 8:15, in Ford Hall, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, directed by Lauri Robinson-Keegan, ("Cookie Coogan") will give a free concert.
