“This annual celebration of education and performance is the only festival of its kind in St. Louis,” said Jim Widner, director of the Jazz Studies program at UMSL and artistic director of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. “That is because in addition to celebrating professional jazz musicians in our headline concert performances, we focus on nurturing the talent of young musicians with jazz student performances and clinics.”

The goal of the festival is to encourage the musical education and growth of the 800 participating students by interaction with internationally acclaimed jazz artists. These students perform on the same stages as the biggest names in professional jazz.

“Jazz St. Louis is proud to once again partner with UMSL and the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival,” said Gene Dobbs Bradford, executive director of Jazz St. Louis. “We all share a strong commitment to providing excellent educational opportunities for young people.  In addition, the festival allows us to share some of the world’s greatest jazz musicians with our community.”

The big jazz performances in 2013 begin with Anat Cohen and Matt Wilson at Jazz at The Bistro on Thursday and continue at the Touhill with Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour and Doc Severinsen and His Big Band on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both concerts at the Touhill feature opening-act performances by the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner.

2013  FESTIVAL  HEADLINERS:

Thursday, April 18:

Virtuosic reed artist Anat Cohen and New York-based drummer and Grammy-nominee Matt Wilson open the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. Jazz St. Louis presents two shows on Thursday, April 18, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Jazz at the Bistro.

Cohen, who will be playing both clarinet and tenor saxophone says, “The music we perform…comes from the jazz tradition, but it’s very playful – we have fun with sounds and melodies, following our instincts, without over-analyzing. Matt Wilson is like a kid onstage, and that’s what I like to be – it’s great to have a partner in crime like him. Matt gets these incredible sounds from the drums…”

Tickets are $32 and are available through the Jazz St. Louis Box Office at 314-289-4030, MetroTix at 314-534-1111, or online at www.metrotix.com.

Friday, April 19:

Jazz St. Louis presents the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 55^th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, April 19, at the Touhill. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall with an opening set by the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner.

Featuring critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning jazz artists, this all-star band consists of bassist and musical director Christian McBride, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Benny Green and drummer Lewis Nash. Embracing the past, present, and future of jazz, the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour will perform an assortment of classic jazz repertoire as well as original compositions.

The Monterey Jazz Festival, the longest continuously-running jazz festival in the world, has presented nearly every major jazz star—from  Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong to Esperanza Spalding and Trombone Shorty—since it was founded in 1958.

Tickets for Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour, sponsored by Worldwide Technology, Inc., are $35, or $75 for VIP tickets which include a backstage post-concert reception to which the musicians have been invited. They are available through the Touhill Performing Arts Center Ticket Office, online at www.touhill.org, or by phone at 314-516-4949.

Saturday, April 20:

Doc Severinsen and His Big Band will close out this exciting weekend of jazz on Saturday, April 20, at the Touhill.  The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall with an opening set by the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner.

“The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson bandleader Doc Severinsen is best known as the legendary horn player who welcomed millions of viewers with the familiar theme song for nearly three decades.  The Doc Severinsen repertoire includes Ellington and Basie standards, pop, jazz, ballads, big band classics and, of course, “The Tonight Show” theme. Severinsen can blow the roof off with a trumpet solo, and his band members get their well-deserved turns in the spotlight.

Tickets are $35. They are available through the Touhill Performing Arts Center Ticket Office, online at www.touhill.org, or by phone at 314-516-4949.

About the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival:

The goal of the four-day festival is to encourage the musical education and growth of the participating students by interacting with internationally acclaimed jazz artists.  Now in its 10^th year, the festival has grown to accommodate as many as 800 students from more than 30 schools from across Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Texas. For two days, students participate in adjudicated performances and clinics. The clinics include one-on-one sessions and critique from jazz’s finest. In past years, budding musicians learned from such jazz greats as Clark Terry, Lou Marini, John Pizzarelli, Ron Carter, Russell Malone, Marilyn Maye, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, Buddy DeFranco, Tom Scott, Mulgrew Miller, Jon Faddis, Conrad Herwig, Shelly Berg, Peter Erskine, Chris Vadala, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Daytime performances and artist clinics are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.touhill.org/jazzfestival.

Everyone who hears her is impressed by virtuosic reed artist Anat Cohen.  As one critic put it, she is “one of the brightest, most original young instrumentalists in jazz.”  Winner of four consecutive Clarinet Player of the Year awards from the Jazz Journalists Association  and multiple citations in Downbeat’s readers and critics polls, Israeli-born Cohen is “an artistically adventurous writer and performer” whose repertoire runs from John Coltrane and Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona to Fats Waller, Sam Cooke, and Benny Goodman.

New York based drummer and Grammy nominee Matt Wilson is one of today’s most celebrated jazz artists. He is universally recognized for his musical and melodic drumming style as well as being a gifted composer, bandleader, producer, and teaching artist. Matt’s positive energy, sense of humor and ability to explore a broad range of musical settings keeps him in constant demand. In addition, Wilson’s dedication to jazz has helped establish him as a beloved world ambassador for the music, on and off the bandstand.

Cohen, who will be playing both clarinet and tenor saxophone, says: “The music we perform…comes from the jazz tradition, but it’s very playful – we have fun with sounds and melodies, following our instincts, without over-analyzing. Matt Wilson is like a kid onstage, and that’s what I like to be – it’s great to have a partner in crime like him. Matt gets these incredible sounds from the drums…”

Lineup:
Anat Cohen – clarinet and saxophones

Matt Wilson – drums

Ken Kehner – piano

Jahmal Nichols – bass

This collaboration comes as part of the 2013 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival presented by University of Missouri-St. Louis, Touhill Performing Arts Center, and Jazz St. Louis. Cohen and Wilson will be adjudicating student jazz combos during the day prior to their performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

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Sponsored by Emerson

“Heeeeere’s Johnny!” That lead-in, followed by a big band trumpet blast, was the landmark of late night television for three decades. The ‘Johnny’ was Johnny Carson, the announcer was Ed McMahon, and the bandleader was Doc Severinsen. Beginning in October 1962, “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” ruled the night air for thirty years. On May 22, 1992, it came to an end, only to launch a new career for Doc Severinsen.

Within a week of the final telecast, Doc Severinsen and His Big Band was on the road. Doc’s group has been composed of “The Tonight Show’s” best musicians — Ed Shaughnessy on drums, Ernie Watts on tenor sax and Snooky Young on trumpet. Their repertoire includes Ellington and Basie standards, pop, jazz, ballads, big band classics and, of course, “The Tonight Show” theme. Audiences are finally able to hear the depth of talent belonging to a band that rarely played a whole tune on the air. Severinsen can blow the roof off with a trumpet solo, but he is not the only accomplished soloist. Many of his band members get their well-deserved turns in the spotlight.

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Christian McBride, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chris Potter, Benny Green, Lewis Nash, & Ambose Akinmusire

Part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

Sponsored by

The Monterey Jazz Festival, the longest continuously-running jazz festival in the world, has presented nearly every major jazz star—from  Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong to Esperanza Spalding and Trombone Shorty—since it was founded in 1958. World-renowned for its artistic excellence, sophisticated informality, and longstanding mission to create and support year-round jazz education and performance programs, the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 55th Anniversary Celebration continues this commitment in 2013 with its third North American Tour. Featuring critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning jazz artists, this all-star band consists of bassist and musical director Christian McBride, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Benny Green, and drummer Lewis Nash. Embracing the past, present, and future of jazz, the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 55th Anniversary Celebration will perform an assortment of classic jazz repertoire as well as original compositions.

style: straight-ahead / vocal jazz

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Part of the 9th Annual UMSL Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival,

If there’s any side or scene of jazz that the still-under-forty Christian McBride hasn’t mastered yet, just wait–he will undoubtedly get around to it, and do it masterfully.  Bassist extraordinaire, band leader, composer, arranger, educator, administrator, curator (he’s co-director of Harlem’s National Jazz Museum),  Grammy-award-winning, “mind-bogglingly busy” (All about Jazz) McBride has worked as a sideman with artists as diverse as Freddie Hubbard, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, James Brown, Sting, Queen Latifah, and Kathleen Battle, and has lead a variety of brilliant smaller ensembles.  Now hear him at the helm of a rocking big band that will excite and satisfy as only great big band music can.  For one night only, presented by the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

“Bassist Christian McBride comes out swinging.” – Detroit Free Press

The 9th Annual UMSL Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival brings more than 50 collegiate and high school big bands and combos to St. Louis to learn from some of the biggest names in professional jazz, top educators, and each other.

Jazz St. Louis presents two of jazz’s most acclaimed young musicians together in this one-night-only Bistro exclusive. In the great tradition of players from Clifford Brown to Milt Jackson, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and trumpeter Sean Jones combine a lyrical, fluid style with high-tier technical facility and energy.  If you have any doubts about jazz’ resilient future, reassure yourself by coming to hear Stefon Harris and Sean Jones at the Bistro.

“(Stefon Harris is) one of the most important young artists in jazz.” – Los Angeles Times

“Jones possesses his own style that can deliver blistering notes or silky tones at the drop of a hat.” – All About Jazz

The 9th Annual UMSL Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival brings more than 50 collegiate and high school big bands and combos to St. Louis to learn from some of the biggest names in professional jazz, top educators, and each other.