LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 24, 2011) − The jazz sounds of some of Ecton Park's most popular big bands and combos is heading indoors to raise money to send the University of Kentucky Jazz Ensemble on a European tour this summer. "Ecton Indoors: A Big Band and Jazz Spectacular" featuring eight live bands will take the stage in the cozy setting of Buster's Billiards and Backroom from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27.
The UK Jazz Ensemble is currently fundraising for a 15-day tour of Europe this July, including major performances at two of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals. The ensemble will be among a select group of colleges and universities invited to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, and the North Sea Jazz Festival, presented in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Additionally, the 20 UK student musicians and five faculty members participating in the tour will perform other gigs throughout France.
"Every year, North Sea and Montreux receive thousands of applications from around the world to perform at their festivals, only six to eight percent are invited to perform," says Miles Osland, director of the UK Jazz Studies and professor of saxophone at UK School of Music in the UK College of Fine Arts. "It’s a high honor to be selected."
"Ecton Indoors," presented by the Jazz Arts Foundation (JAF), will bring together many of the most popular jazz musicians in the Bluegrass. Each of the bands will perform a 30 minute set on one of two bandstands. The four combos performing will feature O-Zone, Gail Wynters, Jay Flippin, Byron Romanowitz, Tom Senff, Dan Brock, Dave McWhorter and the Osland/Daily Jazztet. The big bands scheduled to perform include the MetroGnomes, Young-At-Heart, the Bluegrass Area Jazz Ambassadors and the UK Jazz Ensemble. UK's ensemble will close the show.
Much like the popular summer Ecton Park jazz concerts, the audience in encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets to "Ecton Indoors." Beverages will be available at a cash bar. Tickets for "Ecton Indoors" are $10 per person, college students and JAF members can get s $2 discount. Buster's Billiards and Backroom is located at 899 Manchester St. Free parking for the facility is available at the Cox St. parking lot. Proceeds of this event go directly to the UK Jazz Ensemble tour. Currently the ensemble needs to raise $30,000 more to cover tour expenses for what will be the most extensive international tour of a UK ensemble.
"It’s incredible that so many musicians are donating their time and talents for our cause," notes Osland. "Special thanks go to Dave McWhorter and the Jazz Arts Foundation for arranging the event."
The UK Jazz Ensemble, directed by Osland, consists of the most talented students from the nationally recognized and award-winning UK Jazz Studies Program. They are a very active group touring the Midwest and the South with notable performances in Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Georgia, and invitational performances at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference and the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. The ensemble is also very active in the recording studio. Five recordings from jazz studies have been recommended for Grammy nominations and received four-star reviews from DownBeat magazine. To quote one review: “the UKJE characterizes the best of today’s college band output.”
Founded in 1967, the Montreux Jazz Festival has become a major international event. All the greats have performed on the festival’s various stages, including Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Michael Brecker.
The North Sea Jazz Festival has developed into Europe's largest international jazz event. Besides familiar names like Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Al Jarreau, B.B. King, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock and The Zawinul Syndicate, the North Sea Jazz Festival also gives young talent a chance to be heard on a major stage
The Jazz Arts Foundation is a corporation whose mission is to "enhance the awareness of jazz as a performing art." Since its founding in 1989, the JAF has committed itself to the purpose of educating the public about jazz arts through the promotion of awareness and sensitivity to jazz, and to upgrade it as an art form to the level of community acceptance and support equal to that given other performing arts.
For more information on "Ecton Indoors," contact the Jazz Arts Foundation at (859) 227-1314 or visit www.jazzartsfoundation.org. For more information on the UK Jazz Ensemble or how to donate to its upcoming tour, contact UK Jazz Studies at (859) 257-8173.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-1754 ext. 229; whitney.hale@uky.edu
