Artist info
The Jazz Series is pleased to start this 15th Anniversary Season of great concerts with a special event in partnership with the three music programs of the University of Missouri System. Appropriately enough this is a music scholarship benefit concert -- with the net proceeds shared equally among MU, UMSL and UMKC.
Tonight marks the return of MU alum Jim Widner. Since graduating in 1971, the bassist has gone on to become one of the country's most-recognized jazz educators and, as the caliber of personnel tonight attests, he has also become a large ensemble band leader of note.
Jim is really the architect of this evening's effort. It was he who first proposed the idea of melding a shared program to equally benefit each of the University's three music scholarship programs. It was he who came up with idea that MU, UMSL and UMKC should each be represented.
For this special occasion Widner chose to augment his already strong big band by sprinkling the ensemble with some "out of town talent" such as saxophonist Dave Pietro [New York], trumpeter Clay Jenkins [Los Angeles], trombonists Chip McNeill [Champaign-Urbana] and Paul McKee [Tallahassee, Fla.] as well as a few others.
Widner then added some sweetness to this musical cake. He invited the William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri, Distinguished Professorship in Jazz Studies who directs UMKC's Jazz Studies program to be a special guest. That happens to be alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, the former Jazz Messenger stalwart and long-time Jazz Series favorite who will appear not only tonight but also on New Year's Eve with his famed group, Horizon. [See p. 8]. The final piece of this complicated puzzle could not be anticipated, but fell into place nonetheless as fellow saxophonist Arthur White, recently named the new director of the MU Jazz Studies Department, arrived just in time to participate and thus provide balance to this three-way collaboration.
People should not miss what surely will be a fantastic evening of music -- and a fun one, too. Think of this way: Your participation has great impact on the future of music -- and jazz -- and, at the same time, adds three times the richness of the participating music programs.
