Winner of The Voice Javier Colon to appear with Hall Pops 'n Jazz

The 61st annual production of Pops ’n Jazz, featuring Hall High School's acclaimed jazz bands, dancers, actors, and singers, opens March 8, with additional performances March 9, 14, 15, & 16. Doors open at 7 p.m. and performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

Pops ’n Jazz 2019 features more than 100 student performers, the school's Concert Jazz Band, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Dancers, Choraliers (singers) and I Giovani Solisti (strings). The program, which varies slightly each night, offers an array of American jazz classics from all eras, performed in big band and combo settings, highly choreographed jazz productions, and featured solo performances. The show is known for its eclectic blend of music, ranging from traditional and progressive jazz to pop-rock and Broadway. This year’s fun filled theme, Late Night with Pops ’n Jazz, will highlight music by Earth, Wind, and Fire, Chicago, Sly and the Family Stone, Justin Timberlake, Camila Cabello and selections from La La Land and The Greatest Showman.

In addition to the student performances, invited guests from the ranks of professional musicians appear on selected evenings. This year, featured guests include Hall High alumnus Alexa Tar-antino (sax) on March 8, Wycliffe Gordon (trombone) on March 9, Javier Colon (vocals) on March 14, and New York Voices on March 16. Participation of guest performers is supported by the Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable Trust.

Pops ‘n Jazz is excited to share the stage with Javier Colon (vocals), winner of Season One of NBC’s The Voice who will be performing on March 14. Javier is a singer-songwriter with an “acoustic soul” style who attended the University of Hartford’s Hartt School for music education. While there, he founded an acapella R&B quintet that performed at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater. After graduating, he was a vocalist and percussionist in the soul/funk band, EmcQ, then toured for two years as a lead vocalist in The Derek Trucks Band. Since going solo, Javier has released multiple albums and has performed with such diverse acts as Joss Stone, Darius Rucker, the Indigo Girls, Stevie Nicks, Adam Levine and Anthony Hamilton.

Javier Colon achieved some significant international successes, including a run of shows in Ja-pan with renowned jazz saxophonist Dave Koz, and a series of concerts in Mexico and South America. with Maroon 5 (whose frontman Adam Levine was Javier's coach on The Voice).

"I get emails and messages from fans, saying that my music has moved them or touched them, or helped them when they were in a dark place," he says. "That's something that I take very se-riously. Knowing that other people are listening on that level makes me feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

"Music is powerful," Colon continues. "It can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you dance, and it can make you feel like you're not alone. It can allow you to confront your life, or it can make you forget about life for a while. It's important to me as an artist to try and move people emotionally. My songs have always come from the heart, and from a place of wanting to move people or make people feel something inside.

Pops ‘n Jazz proudly welcomes back Hall class of 2010, Alexa Tarantino (sax), who kicks off the 2019 guest artist roster and performs on March 8. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree at The Juilliard School. She per-forms regularly as a leader and sideman in a wide variety of ensembles including Sherrie Maricle & the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O’ Farrell & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, LSAT and the Alexa Tarantino Quartet. Alexa has toured with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis.

Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), performing March 9, was a founding member of the Jazz at Lin-coln Center Orchestra. He recently received the Louie Award by the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2018 and received the “Best Trombone” Award in Downbeat Magazine multiple years. His arrangement of the theme song to NPR’s “All Things Considered” can be heard daily. He has been recently featured in South Australia’s Generations In Jazz 2016 and 2017, and his early works were with Wynton Marsalis.

New York Voices is a critically acclaimed vocal group who have been performing together since 1987 and will perform on March 16. They are known and admired for their close-knit voicing, inspired arrangements and unparalleled vocal blend. Along with their extensive concert perfor-mances and recording schedules, NYV also works in the field of education, giving workshops and clinics to high school and college music students around the world.

An original composition by Jen Allen will be performed by all West Hartford Elementary and Mid-dle Schools showcased this year. Featuring up-and-coming young talent from King Philip Middle School, there will be special performances by the KP Singers (March 9), the King Philip Jazz Band (March 14), and Sixth Dimension (March 16). On March 15, special recognition will be giv-en to the Hall Junior Artists, which include students from Aiken, Morely, and Norfeldt, with a per-formance by the Aiken/Norfeldt Jazz Band. On March 8, special recognition will be given to the Hall Junior Artists from Bugbee, Smith and Whiting Lane elementary schools in West Hartford. The Pops ’n Jazz family welcomes the Bristow Middle School Big Band to perform on stage dur-ing the March 9 performance.

Through the years, the Concert Jazz Band has performed with some of the finest jazz artists in the world, including Luis Bonilla, Phil Woods, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Jimmy Heath, Bob Mintzer, Marvin Stamm, Dionne Warwick, Kurt Elling, Curtis Fuller, and the Count Basie and Woody Herman Orchestras.

Online ticketing system with ASSIGNED SEATING. Ticket Website: http://hallhighjazz.tix.com. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for students and are on sale now online! Beginning February 20, tickets can also be purchased in person at the Hall High box of-fice. Box office hours will be Monday - Friday, 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Like us on Facebook at Pops ’n jazz. Follow us on Twitter @pops_jazz or on Instagram @popsnjazz. For more information, please call the Pops 'n Jazz hotline at (860) 929-5151, or visit www.hallhighjazz.com.