MSU to host Jamey Aebersold Jazz Festival

 

Event will feature 16 regional school jazz bands, the Jamey Aebersold Quartet and four Murray State jazz ensembles

MURRAY, Ky. – The 15th Murray State University-Jamey Aebersold Jazz Festival will take place on Friday, March 28. Thirteen high school jazz bands, three groups from middle schools, the Murray State Jazz Orchestra, Dr. Todd Hill and the Jamey Aebersold Quartet will be performing in clinics and concerts open to the public. There will be an open improvisation clinic with NEA Jazz Master Jamey Aebersold intermingled with his concert in the Performing Arts Hall from 12:30 p.m. until 1:55 p.m. that afternoon.

All concerts and clinics are free, and the public is cordially invited.

The coordinator of the festival, which annually brings around 300 or more young musicians to Murray State is Dr. Todd E. Hill, professor of music and director of jazz studies. Student assistance comes from the members of the Murray State Jazz Band, Blue and Gold Jazz Combos and Jazz Orchestra. 

“Jamey Aebersold has donated much of his time and financial support to the jazz program at Murray State. He is a great friend to the department of music, the jazz program, to our radio station WKMS, and he has enriched the cultural life of the community at large in addition to everything he has done for jazz education internationally,” said Hill. 

Aebersold endowed a jazz scholarship for Murray State students in 2008. The jazz festival was renamed in his honor several years later as a tribute to Aebersold’s continued commitment to jazz education and to the jazz program at Murray State.

The festival, designed for educational, rather than competitive purposes, is in its seventeenth year as two festivals had to be cancelled (due to Covid one year, and an ice storm the next). Each school’s director decides whether their groups will receive an assessment score. The day will include clinics by professional musicians and educators including Professor Ricky Burkhead from the University of Mississippi (Oxford, Mississippi); Dr. Rich Ripani, director of the Nashville (Tennessee) jazz youth ensemble, Gary “Bo” Clayton, director of jazz studies at Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tennessee), and Drs. Todd French and Chris Sharpe, both of the Department of Music at Murray State University.  

“Our clinicians are some of the most respected teachers and performers in this part of the country. The participants will be getting the high-quality jazz education experience for which we're known. We don’t have the jazz bands competing with each other. This is a musical event for sharing and learning,” said Hill. 

The other groups are repeat participants, many for several years from the beginning of the festival.

Clinic performances will be held in Lovett Auditorium and are open to the public. 

Following is the schedule for bands: 

Murray High School at 8:25 a.m.

Calloway County High School at 8:50 a.m.

Graves County High School Combo at 9:15 a.m.

Hopkinsville Middle School at 9:40 a.m.

Lone Oak Middle School at 10:05 a.m. 

Union County Middle School at 10:30 a.m.

Christian County High School at 10:55 a.m. 

Madisonville-North Hopkins “III” Middle School/High School at 11:20 a.m. 

Hopkinsville High School at 11:45 a.m.

McCracken County High School at 12:10 p.m.

Jamey Aebersold Clinic and Quartet at 12:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Hall

Madisonville-North Hopkins High School “II” at 2 p.m. 

Graves County High School at 2:25 p.m. 

Union County High School at 2:50 p.m.

Madisonville-North Hopkins High School “I” at 3:15 p.m.

Caverna High School at 3:40 p.m.

Stewart County High School (Tennessee) at 4:05 p.m. 

Dr. Todd Hill will play piano and hold a question-and-answer session at 4:30 p.m. and the award-winning Murray State Jazz Orchestra will perform a mini-concert at 4:55 p.m., closing the day. 

Except for the Jamey Aebersold concert and clinic, the events will be held in beautiful and historic Lovett Auditorium on the Murray State campus.