Celebrate International Jazz Day with a tribute that will include film clips, a talk, and musical demos.
Although Charlie “Bird” Parker, Dave Brubeck, and Art Blakey were each born 100 years ago, this free program will show their music remains astoundingly modern with an influence that looms large today. They will be celebrated in a combination of film clips, talk, and musical demos led by Chip McNeill, Chair of Jazz Performance at the University of Illinois School of Music. In addition to his UIUC position, McNeill is Musical Director and tenor saxophonist for Grammy award-winning trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval.
Joan Hickey and Joel Spencer, colleagues from the Jazz Division, will join Professor McNeill to explore the meteoric bop explosion for which Bird was ground zero . . . "Take Five" and other experiments with time signatures that propelled Brubeck’s popularity . . . and the “academy without walls” that Blakey's drumming fueled for decades with his Jazz Messengers.
Cosponsored by the UNESCO Center for Global Citizenship, the Urbana Arts and Culture program, and The Urbana Free Library.
The program will be followed by an after-party from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. just across the street at the Iron Post. Professors McNeill, Hickey, and Spencer will form the nucleus of a combo performing works associated with Bird, Brubeck, and Blakey. Food and beverage will be available for purchase.
Conveniently located at the corner of Race and Green in downtown Urbana.