Professors of Jazz Performance Events

Regular Concerts | Collaboration Concerts | Jazz Katz, Jazz for Kids

MSU Professors of Jazz Regular Concerts

An evening with the MSU Professors of Jazz is an evening full of great music. The artists perform many compositions from the jazz canon including American Broadway songs, jazz classics, and original compositions. The Professors of Jazz have performed extensively at various concert halls throughout the state of Michigan, including Max Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, African-American Museum, Historical First Congregational Church, Kerrytown Concert House, The Village Theatre in Canton, Costick Center, and as guests with the MSU Jazz Band I in January 2006 at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola–Lincoln Center.

The regular performance consists of a 60-minute set, a 15-minute intermission, followed by a 45-minute set. The musicians always return for a crowd-pleasing encore. The concert is sometimes followed by a reception where patrons and musicians are able to meet and greet.

MSU Professors of Jazz Collaboration Concerts

This is a unique jump for jazz into the world of classical music where opening doors to the minds of new listeners is important. The individual members of the MSU Professors of Jazz bring their level of collaborative experience, having shared the stage with great musicians in various bands, orchestras, and symphonies from around the globe. While with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker and Wessell Anderson performed with the Berlin Philharmonic. They also performed with Kurt Mazur-New York Philharmonic; Czech Philharmonic in Rudolfinum Dvorak Hall, Czech Republic; Boston Symphony in Tanglewood, MA with Seiji Ozawa. Whitaker and Anderson can be heard on the recent collaborative release “All Rise,” written by Wynton Marsalis and performed by the Morgan State Choir, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Esa Pekka. Derrick Gardner has performed with the Brass Band of Battle Creek, Battle Creek Michigan, conducted by Alain Trudel, and the American Symphony Orchestra of New York at Lincoln Center. Vocalist Sunny Wilkinson was a recent guest artist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra.

MSU Professors of Jazz collaborations consist of:

• several days of rehearsals for the collaborative performances
• evening jazz concerts during the rehearsal period
• educational workshops
• Jazz Kats (youth oriented jazz concerts)
• one or two final shows with residency days before the performance(s)

MSU Professors of Jazz - Jazz Kats

Wharton Center for Performing Arts and the jazz studies area at the College of Music at Michigan State University are pleased to announce a partnership series, Jazz Kats, Jazz for Kids. Modeled after Jazz at Lincoln Center's highly successful programs for youth and featuring the Michigan State University Professors of Jazz, the program is designed for school concerts, Black history program, and family shows.

Rodney Whitaker, director of jazz studies at MSU and artistic director of the MSUPJ, will narrate the Jazz Kats series. Other celebrated MSU Professors of Jazz faculty artists joining him on stage include saxophonist Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson, trombonist Vincent Chandler, trumpeter Derrick Gardner, drummer Randy Gelispie, saxophonist Diego Rivera, pianist Rick Roe, and vocalist Sunny Wilkinson.

Scripts for the Jazz Kats series were developed by Anna Celenza, award-winning author of the acclaimed children’s book The Farewell Symphony, Laura Johnson, former education director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Debbie Gift, education director of Wharton Center, and Rodney Whitaker.

Currently, there are three different Jazz Kats shows offered and have been performed Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, Detroit Symphony Orchestra-Tiny Tots Series, Arts League of Michigan-Jazz @ The Center:

• Swingin’, Stompin’, and Rockin’ – answers the question: What is jazz? With energetic performances guaranteed to appeal to young and old alike, this concert illustrates the 10 basic elements of jazz: syncopation, improvisation, call and response, rhythm, blue notes, tone color, harmony, riff, break, percussion.
• Let Freedom Ring – features compositions by jazz artists who participated in the civil rights movement and show how these works were tied to specific historic events. By telling the stories behind events such as Brown versus the Board of Education and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s most famous speech "I Have a Dream," listeners discover how music can be used to send cultural and political messages of both protest and celebration. The concert is presented in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. and features the music of artists such as Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, and Duke Ellington.
• Young Satchmo, Blow Your Horn! – features the early works of Louis Armstrong. This concert demonstrates the astounding impact Armstrong’s music had on American culture. The concert is designed to be a tour across America — from the streets of New Orleans to the jazz clubs of Harlem — with Louis Armstrong as guide.