LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 22, 2011) − Four sections of the JEN (Jazz Education Network) International Conference will showcase talents from the University of Kentucky School of Music at the UK College of Fine Arts. The UK Jazz Ensemble and Miles Osland, director of Jazz Studies, will present in the college/university group and clinic categories. In addition, two local jazz groups with members from UK will also be featured, the Bluegrass Area Jazz Ambassadors and the Osland/Dailey Jazztet. The JEN Conference will be presented Jan. 4-7, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Local audiences can catch a free public concert featuring all the groups beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall.
JEN is dedicated to building the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance, and developing new audiences. The organization's annual conference features three and a half days of non-stop school, community and professional concerts, clinics, seminars, discussion groups and exhibit booths.
Performing under the direction of Miles Osland, UK Jazz Ensemble is comprised of 20 undergraduates and graduates students from the UK School of Music. The group recently completed a European tour last summer featuring performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. The ensemble frequently tours the Midwest and South with notable performances in Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, 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. UK Jazz Ensemble is also active in the recording studio; five recordings from jazz studies have been recommended for Grammy nominations and received four-star reviews from DownBeat Magazine.
Professor Osland will present a clinic at the conference titled "Jazz Phrasing for Key and Button Pushers (and Others)" featuring the UK Mega-Sax Ensemble as a demonstration group. Osland has distinguished himself as an educator, recording and performing artist, author, arranger and composer. Osland has appeared throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia as a guest conductor, performer and clinician for Selmer Saxophones, Rico reeds and Bay Woodwind mouthpieces. His compositions and arrangements, available through Walrus Music, have been recognized and supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, and by numerous other arts foundations.
In addition, local groups the Bluegrass Area Jazz Ambassadors (BAJA) will perform in the community ensemble category and the Osland/Dailey Jazztet will perform as part of the professional groups at the conference.
BAJA is a popular performing ensemble affiliated with the Bluegrass Area Jazz Association, a nonprofit organization committed to the promotion of jazz education and the performance of jazz in the Bluegrass area. The group is comprised of musicians from the community, both professional and amateur, as well as students from UK Jazz Studies. This 18-piece big band, which came together in 2004, performs under the direction of Osland, artistic director. Two UK faculty members serve as musical directors for the group, Raleigh Dailey, assistant professor of jazz studies, and Mark Clodfelter, associate professor of trumpet.
The Osland/Dailey Jazztet is also set to perform at JEN. The group is comprised of UK faculty members Osland, on saxophone; Dailey, on piano; Paul Deatherage, on drums; and Danny Cecil, on bass.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-8716 or whitney.hale@uky.edu
