[390] MTSU JAZZ ARTIST SERIES CONCLUDES SEASON WITH TERELL STAFFORD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 25, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493, or tmusselm@mtsu.edu

MTSU JAZZ ARTIST SERIES CONCLUDES SEASON WITH TERELL STAFFORD
April 4 Jazz Festival at MTSU Offers Clinics, Professional Feedback for Participants

(MURFREESBORO)— The MTSU Jazz Festival, in conjunction with the MTSU Jazz Artist Series, will began at 9:30 a.m. April 4 in the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus. The concluding Jazz Artist Series concert will feature jazz trumpeter, *Terell Stafford with the MTSU Jazz Ensemble I at 7:30 p.m. in Hinton Hall of the WMB.
Bringing together outstanding jazz artists, jazz educators, students and jazz lovers for a full day of performances and educational activities, the MTSU Jazz Festival will begin with 30-minute performances by high school/college jazz ensembles and combos throughout the day.
School groups will perform for professional adjudicators and then given a “one-on-one” workshop with one of the visiting clinicians. Designed to help the students expand and improve their jazz skills, the festival will afford each group with audio taped comments from two clinicians.
The clinicians this year include special guest Mark Buselli, director of jazz studies at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., as well as Don Aliquo, Jamey Simmons and Tom Giampietro from the MTSU jazz faculty.
In addition, the festival will feature two educational master classes. Buselli will conduct a jazz improvisation clinic from noon to 1 p.m. and international guest artist Stafford will conduct a master class from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
The festival will conclude with the Jazz Artist Series concert featuring 
Stafford and the MTSU Jazz Ensemble I.
Concerning trumpeter Stafford. Aliquo said, "(He) is currently one of the most dynamic jazz artists on the scene today. He is truly a master in all aspects of musicianship, and his original voice and warm personality make him one of the most in-demand soloists working today."
Since the mid-1990s, Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golson’s Sextet, McCoy Tyner’s Sextet, the Kenny Barron Sextet, the Frank Wess Quintet, the Jimmy Heath Big Band, and the Jon Faddis Orchestra. Currently, he is a member of the Grammy-nominated Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as well as drummer Matt Wilson’s group, “Arts and Crafts,” and drummer Alvin Queen’s group, “Alvin Queen and the Organics.” Stafford has recorded five albums as a leader, including the critically acclaimed Taking Chances, and is heard on 40-plus albums as a sideman.
An educator as well as a performer, Stafford currently holds the positions of professor of music and director of jazz studies at Temple University in Philadelphia and is a clinician for the prestigious Vail Foundation in Colorado and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Program. He has also served as a member of the faculty for the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies in New York.
Stafford was born in Miami and reared in Chicago and Silver Spring, Md. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from the University of Maryland in 1988 and a master’s degree in music from Rutgers University in 1993.
"We are thrilled at being able to bring the very best to the Middle Tennessee Jazz Community," Aliquo said.
TICKETS: Admission to the MTSU Jazz Artist series concert with Stafford is $15, with tickets available at the door. MTSU faculty, staff and students will be admitted free with proper ID.

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• Note to Media: *Terell Stafford is the correct spelling for this performer’s name (not Terrell).