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NIU Jazz Ensemble releases new CD

March 27, 2017

The NIU Jazz Ensemble is wrapping up a busy year with the release of a new CD that is already garnering international acclaim.

The new CD, entitled “Footprints,” was recorded live at NIU last April. The NIU Jazz Ensemble has nine musicians, all of whom are undergraduate students. Postproduction work was done by two NIU graduate students.

The CD is comprised of eight tracks and is inspired by the “Supersax” sound that inspired their performances throughout the year. Supersax was a jazz group in the 1970s founded by saxophonist Med Flory and bassist Buddy Clark, in tribute to the iconic bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker.

NIU music faculty earlier this year presented rough cuts of “Footprints” during a guest lecture for the Jazz Studies program at the University of Veracruz in Mexico. Impressed with the concept and quality, Veracruz faculty invited the NIU Jazz Ensemble to play during their upcoming annual jazz festival in October. NIU music faculty have since scheduled a full tour for the NIU Jazz Ensemble throughout Mexico around the time of the festival.

Some of the group’s upcoming performances will serve as fundraisers for that trip next fall, including:

  • March 30, 8 p.m. – House Café, 263 E. Lincoln Hwy., DeKalb ($10 general admission and $5 NIU students; the cover includes one copy of the CD “Footprints”)
  • April 19, shows at 8 and 10 p.m., – Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago ($10 general admission and $5 NIU students; the cover includes one copy of the CD “Footprints”)
  • April 24, 8 p.m. – NIU School of Music Boutell Memorial Concert Hall (Free admission)

For more information, contact the NIU School of Music at music@niu.edu or call 815-753-1551.