Tuesday, November 22, 2005

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Two UNCW ensembles, the Big Band and the Saxtet, swing into Kenan Auditorium for an evening of great jazz at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2. While the Saxtet is composed of UNCW music students, the UNCW Big Band is composed of students throughout the university as well as members of the local community. Both groups are led by music department chair, Frank Bongiorno.

The UNCW Big Band performs music ranging from swing to bebop and modern styles. In addition to its concert schedule, the band has produced several recordings including four CD's. Friday night's program will consist of a variety of big band selections, including new original works by well-known arrangers such as Jeff Jarvis, Lennie Niehaus and Matt Harris.

The UNCW Saxtet is a unique new jazz ensemble of select students from the Department of Music. Consisting of primarily jazz and performance majors, this contemporary ensemble consists of five saxophones, a trumpet and a rhythm section. Modeled after the well-known SuperSax groups of the 1970s, the Saxtet combines the big band sound of a large jazz ensemble with the subtleties and creative improvisations of a small jazz combo. Compositions to be performed include works by such music greats as Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller and others.

Admission for this event is $5 for the general public and free for UNCW students with a valid ID.

For more information, please contact the UNCW Kenan Auditorium Box Office at 910.962.3500 or the UNCW Department of Music at 910.962.7416.
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The UNCW Jazz Ensembles consist of both big bands and combos. Over the years the jazz ensembles and its musicians have garnered numerous awards and accolades. Since 1995 some of these awards and honors have included a Down Beat award for “Outstanding College Performance” in the “Jazz Instrumentalist Soloist” category, and a gold award (first place) for the best university combo at JazzFest U.S.A. (sponsored by Down Beat magazine). The UNCW Jazz Ensembles have also been invited to perform at various prestigious jazz festivals, including the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and the Graz Jazz Festival in Austria. In addition to their concert schedule, the UNCW Jazz Ensembles have produced several recordings, including four compact disc recordings (On the Edge, Portraits of Swing, Travelin’ Light and Summation), a compact disc play-along for Jazz Player magazine, as well as a videotape called Sing Like a Pro. The UNCW Jazz Ensembles host an annual guest artist jazz festival each spring that provides an opportunity for the ensembles to perform with world-class jazz artists such as Ingrid Jensen, Ralph Bowen, Bob Berg, Marvin Stamm, Rufus Reid, David Baker, Ed Shaughnessy, Chris Vadala, Denis DiBlasio and Slide Hampton, to name a few.

Frank Bongiorno is the Department of Music chair and professor of jazz and saxophone. During his tenure at UNCW, his saxophone as well as jazz students have received national and international recognition by such organizations as Down Beat magazine and Jazzfest USA, among others. He is an active recitalist, orchestral soloist, jazz artist and clinician throughout the United States and abroad, and has performed solos with various professional and college ensembles throughout the world, as well as in solo recital and also with his jazz group. In addition to his performances as a soloist, Bongiorno has performed as a supporting musician for headliners such as Kenny Rogers, Aretha Franklin, Red Skelton, Johnny Mathis and Frankie Vallie among others. His publications include two solo recordings (http://www.lisciorecordings.com), three instructional CD’s, numerous recordings as a side-man, saxophone transcriptions of “Classical” music, original compositions for jazz combo, paper presentations at national conferences, as well as over 100 articles and reviews in various trade magazines. He has been featured in a front cover interview in the January/February 1993 issue of the Saxophone Journal and was recently listed in the International Who’s Who in Music, Seventeenth Edition and the Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century.