UCO’s Monterey Jazz Festival Ensemble to play farewell concert
FRIDAY
EDMOND — The University of Central Oklahoma Monterey Jazz Festival Ensemble will present “Swing to Monterey,” a farewell concert and CD release party at 8 p.m. Friday at Edmond’s UCO Jazz Lab, 100 E Fifth. Following the send-off celebration, the award-winning ensemble will travel to California to perform at the 61st Annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
“Swing to Monterey” will be the last local performance of the UCO Monterey Jazz Festival Ensemble, which earned first place at the Next Generation Jazz Festival in March 2018. The ensemble performed alongside big bands, combos, vocal ensembles and individual musicians, all vying for a spot on the stages of the 61st Annual Monterey Jazz Festival. An improvised solo by the ensemble’s first trombonist, Evan Drumm, earned the UCO student recognition as an “Outstanding Soloist,” an award presented to only four musicians at the festival.
The 61st Annual Monterey Jazz Festival is Sept. 21-23 and will feature more than 500 artists performing both day and night across eight venues. Although seven musicians in the UCO Monterey Jazz Ensemble have since graduated from the program, all 17 original members will come together to perform at “Swing to Monterey” and at the California festival.
The UCO Monterey Jazz Ensemble will debut its new CD “Spirit of Monterey,” available for purchase at the concert for $20. All proceeds from the CD and concert will be matched 3:1 by a donor and will benefit the Jazz Studies Support Fund at UCO. The fund supports a variety of initiatives, including student travel opportunities like the Monterey Jazz Festival.
“Spirit of Monterey” is dedicated in memory of James Kent “Doc” Kidwell, the UCO Jazz program founder who died in July. CD duplication for “Spirit of Monterey” was donated by UCO alumnus Matt Horton at AVPro Studios, LLC in memory of Kidwell, according to a news release.
Tickets to “Swing to Monterey” are $25. To purchase tickets, call 974-2100 or go to www.ucojazzlab.com.