Director Rodrigo Villanueva and the NIU Jazz Lab Band will perform their last concert of the spring semester at 8 p.m. Monday, April 22, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall of the Music Building.
The band will perform an eclectic and dazzling program featuring two of the top jazz trombonists in the Chicago area: NIU’s own Tom Garling and UIC’s Jazz Ensemble director, Andy Baker.
Monday’s concert will include music by some of the greatest jazz composers, including Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Horace Silver, Phil Wilson, Bill Potts, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny and Chick Corea.
Villanueva said the 2013 edition of the NIU Jazz Lab Band has many promising young musicians.
The band combines the experience of graduate students Marianne Kim, Evan King and Rosebud Scholar Victor Bastidas with the talent of a new breed of gifted undergraduates who already are seasoned players.
Upperclassmen include Kandace Miggins, Brian Quinlan, Eric Smith, Jerry Williams and Sam Hight. Freshman-level students include Francesca Hanson, Sean Holly, Carlos Brown, Everette Benton, Matt Farias, Joshua Cleveland, Gavin Tidaback, Micah Huff, Ethan Woyach and Andy Czarnechi.
The NIU Jazz Lab Band has been selected to perform at the prestigious Illinois Music Education All-State Conference in January 2014, and last summer won the prestigious Downbeat’s Students Awards in the College Jazz Big Band Division. In addition, the Lab Band has performed with several international jazz artists.
The concert is free and open to the public, and the building is accessible to all. The concert also will be streamed live.
For more information, call (815) 753-1546 or email lslater@niu.edu.