Jazz concert, daytime workshops highlight 9th Annual ETHS Jazz Festival

The 9^th Annual Evanston Jazz Festival at Evanston Township High School (ETHS) welcomes Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, with special guest Victor Goines, on Saturday, February 11, 2012. The festival offers a full day of non-competitive, educational workshops and performances by middle and high school jazz ensembles, culminating in an evening performance of orchestral jazz. 

 The daytime highlight will be a noontime concert by Grammy-winning fusion jazz percussionist Paul Wertico. For many years the drummer with the Pat Metheny Group, Wertico currently leads numerous unique jazz groups.

All daytime activities, including the noontime concert, are free and open to the public.

The evening performance begins at 7:30pm with a set from ETHS’s own Jazz Ensemble. The concert will be held in the ETHS Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave., in Evanston. The Auditorium is handicapped accessible, and parking is free in the school lot on Dodge Ave., across from the Auditorium entrance. Reserved-seat tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children, students with ID, and seniors. A $50 family ticket covers admission for two adults and up to four children. Call (847) 424-7848 or visit www.ethsjazz.com to order tickets online.

The Evanston Jazz Festival attracts more than 400 student musicians from school bands around the Midwest. The festival focuses on educating high school and middle school jazz students and showcasing their talents. Activities include workshops, clinics, and master classes offered by jazz musicians and educators, and a special workshop on computer music technology. Each participating band or combo performs and then receives both live and recorded feedback and coaching from expert judges. All proceeds from ticket event sales go toward enhancing the ETHS Jazz Program.

This year’s Evanston Jazz Festival features trumpeter and composer Orbert Davis. Davis is co-founder, conductor and artistic director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (CJP). Winner of the 1995 Cognac Hennessy National Jazz Search, Orbert was one of Chicago Tribune's "1995 Arts People of the Year." Chicago Magazine named him "Y2k Best Trumpeter in Chicago" and "Chicagoan of the Year for 2002." Orbert’s CD recordings include "Priority," "Blue Notes" and CJP’s Collective Creativity," released in 2009.

Acclaimed saxophonist-clarinetist, jazz educator and composer Victor Goines will perform with the CJP. Goines is widely recognized as one of the most engaging and versatile performers, composers, collaborators and educators in music today. A member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra since 1993, Mr. Goines has performed and recorded with The Victor Goines Quartet, and collaborated with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Dianne Reeves, Bo Didley, Freddie Hubbard, Damon Short, Freddie Green, and a host of other renowned musicians and ensembles.

The ETHS Music Department has more than 400 students in bands, choirs, orchestras, small ensembles, and jazz groups. ETHS student groups have won two Downbeat music awards, and the music program is a three-time Grammy Signature School Winner. The ETHS Music Department also takes students on semi-annual trips, which over the past few years have included Montreal, New York, Orlando, New Orleans and Nashville. The extensive jazz program includes nine combos and three big bands. The school’s top jazz ensemble and combo have performed in Europe and Japan, as well as at the Chicago Jazz Festival and other jazz venues around the Chicago area.

For more information about the 9^th Annual Evanston Jazz Festival, log on to www.ethsjazz.com or contact