Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Wilmington, N.C. – The University of North Carolina Wilmington music department will hold its annual Jazz Festival Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2. Headlining this year’s event will be the well-known jazz guitarist Jack Petersen. Jazz Festival events will take place in the Warwick Center Ballroom. Advanced registration is required for participation in the clinics; however, they are free and open to the public for observation. General admission tickets for the evening performances are $5; UNCW students are admitted free with a valid ID.

Tickets for this event may be purchased one week in advance. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the University of North Carolina Wilmington and are used to support the Department of Music through scholarships for UNCW music students. For ticket information, contact the UNCW Music Department at 910/962-3390. For concert information, call 910/962-7416.

Clinics will be held from 12-5 p.m. on both days. The festival features high school and university jazz band performances, clinics by Petersen and master classes by the UNCW jazz faculty. The UNCW Guest Artist Jazz Festival is a non-competitive festival, which affords the participants an opportunity to work with and be critiqued by some of the world’s finest jazz performers and educators in an educational and entertaining atmosphere.

Two festival performances will be given. On Friday night at 8 p.m. Petersen will perform with the UNCW Big Band, and on Saturday night at 8 p.m. the Jack Petersen Combo will perform. Joining the combo will be UNCW faculty members Steve Bailey on bass and Bill Warren on drums. Each member of the UNCW jazz faculty maintains a busy performance and recording schedule as a soloist and supportive musician. Members of the UNCW jazz faculty are active clinicians and performers throughout the country and are dedicated to the pedagogy and perpetuation of jazz as an art form. In addition to the daily activities, “Outstanding Performance Certificates” and scholarships for the UNCW Summer Jazz Workshop will be announced during the evening concerts to the outstanding performers.

Over the years, Petersen has established his reputation as one of the finest jazz guitarists as well as jazz pedagogues in this country. Some of the musicians Petersen has performed with include James Moody, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Henry Mancini, Jerry Lewis, Buddy DeFranco, Randy Brecker, John Faddis and Dave Brubeck.

As a teacher, Petersen has taught at some of the most prestigious schools of jazz in the United States, including an artist residency at the University of North Texas for 12 years, as teacher of improvisation and guitar at the University of North Florida, and as chairman of the guitar department at Berklee School of Music for three years.

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Media Contact: Jennifer Johnson, events coordinator, UNCW Department of Music, johnsonje@uncw.edu or 910/962-7416.