NW’s jazz ensembles to perform concert with guest soloist

The jazz ensembles of Northwest Missouri State University’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts will perform a concert Monday, October 2.

The concert featuring the Northwest Studio Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Ensemble begins at 7:30 pm in Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. It is free and open to the public.

The Northwest Jazz Ensemble, Northwest’s premier, audition-based jazz group, will perform music from the Count Basie library and Charles Mingus’s “The Fables of Faubus.” The Studio Jazz Ensemble will perform Adrien Re’s “The Defibrillator;” Greg Yasinitsky’s “Put It on My Tab” and a vocal tune called “Cry Me a River.”

Jerome Johnson, a singer and songwriter from Blue Springs, will perform as a guest soloist with both bands during the concert. Johnson has performed in the musicals “Cats” and “Broke Open” and played the lead role in “The Spectacular Christmas Show” at Crown Center in Kansas City. He also performs with “The Phil Collins Experience,” a band based in Kansas City.

“We’re excited to have Jerome Johnson join us; he’s a wonderful singer and a great performer,” Dr. William Richardson, the conductor of the jazz ensembles and a professor of music, said. “This will be a great opportunity for our students to share the stage with him and also for the audience to check out his amazing singing.”

Both the Studio Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Ensemble perform music representing a variety of styles such as Latin and funk. The ensembles perform multiple concerts on the Northwest campus annually, and the Jazz Ensemble regularly tours the four-state region.