The Vacek Jazz Artist Residency, established in 2012, is an ongoing educational component of the MSM Jazz Department that pairs visiting jazz artists and educators with our students for a full week each semester. The goal of this project is to give students an in-depth appreciation for all facets of the jazz tradition from an outside professional. The guest artist-in-residence not only performs with each ensemble in the jazz department, but also gives lectures, clinics and lessons in improvisation, composition, theory, history and performance, ranging from broad to the very specific issues.
April 2013 Guest Artist-in-Residence is Bill Evans
April 9-16
All events listed are FREE and open to the public. We encourage all jazz educators & students to attend if possible.
*** Please email rgabbart@uh.edu if you are a jazz educator interested in attending our Saturday improvisation clinic indicating the number of students you will be able to bring.
Tuesday, 4/9
2:30-3:30p, Room 118, Jazz Improvisation Clinic
Wednesday, 4/10
10-11a, Room 118, Lecture in Survey of Jazz Masters – John Coltrane
12-1p, Room 175, Rehearsal with Jazz Orchestra
1-2p, Room 145, Rehearsal with Jazz Combo
Thursday, 4/11
11:30a-1p, Room 147, Rehearsal with Jazz Combo
2:30-3:30p, Room 118, Jazz Improvisation Clinic
Friday, 4/12
12-1p, Room 175, Rehearsal with Jazz Orchestra
Saturday, 4/13
10a-12p, Room 145, Improvisation clinic with high school students
Monday, 4/15
12-2p, Room 175, Rehearsal with Jazz Orchestra
Tuesday, 4/16
7:30-9p, Moores Opera House, Concert with Jazz Orchestra ***Ticketed event
Saxophonist Bill Evans first joined Miles Davis’ group in 1980 at the age of 22, recorded six albums and toured the world with Davis numerous times over a four-year period. He has since performed and recorded with John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Steps Ahead and Mick Jagger, among others, garnering a few Grammy Awards® along the way. Mr. Evans has been touring almost exclusively with his own band since 1990, playing over 100 concerts worldwide per year.
Throughout his more than 20-year career as a solo artist, Bill Evans has explored a variety of musical settings that go well beyond the confines of traditional jazz, including rock, hip-hop, jam, fusion, reggae, Brazilian and funk. Evans stepped into more adventurous territory with his 2006 Grammy®-nominated release Soulgrass, blending jazz, funk and bluegrass into a seamless and wholly unique hybrid of quintessentially American styles. Since then, the Soulgrass title has stuck to this primary musical outfit, mixing jazz with rock, soul and bluegrass style. The results are quite astounding and sound great played within any ensemble.
Van’s Joint, the 2010 live release, features eight of Evans’ tunes arranged for and played by the WDR Big Band Cologne featuring Evans, bassist Mark Egan and drummer Dave Weckl out front. Recorded over two nights in Germany during Soulgrass’ 2008 tour, the performances are spectacular and the unique collaboration one of which Evans is particularly proud. Evans’ latest release with Soulgrass, Dragonfly, blends his sax with banjo to propel the tunes as if they were lead guitars. Evans says, “This CD is a melting pot of styles that work very well together. I have been working with banjo together with the guitar for over six years and, at this point, we have created our own sound. It is Americana-meets-soul meets-jazz in a new kind of way. There are no boundaries here [and the] audience reaction is fantastic.”
This residency could not be possible without a generous donation by UH alum and former MSM jazz member, Mr. Jeff Vacek.
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