The College of Wooster’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo to perform Nov. 3

The College of Wooster’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo will hold their Fall Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3, in the Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University Street). The Jazz Ensemble will welcome Bri Mosley ’24, senior music major, as a vocalist and guest artist, Victor Garcia, on trumpet.  

Under the direction of Jeffrey Lindberg and Greg Slawson, the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Combo will present music written by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Neal Hefti, Gil Fuller, Tadd Dameron, Henry Mancini, Dizzy Gillespie, Brian Lynch, Chick Corea, Charles Mingus, and Roy Hargrove. Bri Mosley, backed by the Jazz Ensemble, will perform two songs from Nina Simone’s discography. Ryan Yonek ’25, a computer science and trombone performance major, and Garrett Morris ’24, an economics major, will be featured trombonists during the piece “Rose of the Rio Grande.”   

Bri Mosley ’24 will be a featured vocalist at this concert. Photo provided by Mosley.

The guest artist for the evening, Victor Garcia, is a three-time Grammy-nominated trumpeter who has performed alongside a host of notable names in music, including Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Spoon, and many others. He has held professional positions at Roosevelt University, Loyola University, and the University of Illinois in Chicago. He has contributed to numerous albums and released his debut album, “The Grind/The Groove,” in 2018. 

Lindberg has conducted the Wooster Jazz Ensemble since 1986. While at Wooster, Lindberg has drawn attention to lesser-known composers and exposed his students and community members to world-class soloists and compositions. Lindberg is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Chicago Jazz Orchest­­­­ra, the director of the Wooster Symphony Orchestra, and teaches both jazz history and trombone at Wooster. With the Chicago Jazz Orchestra performing numerous jazz transcriptions by Lindberg himself, the Ensemble has also featured notable musicians, including Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder. 

Slawson is an adjunct music instructor at the College, teaching classes in jazz piano, jazz improvisation, and music technology and recording. He also edits Music Department recordings and manages the recording crew. Slawson performs regularly as a freelance pianist and with various ensembles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music and psychology from Wittenberg University and a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music.  

The concert is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact the Department of Music at 330-263-2419 or mpuster@wooster.edu.

Image 1: Victor Garcia, guest trumpeter. Photo provided by Garcia

Posted in News on October 30, 2023.