(MACON) – The 2004 Mercer Jazz Festival will be held Saturday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m., at The Grand Opera House, 651 Mulberry St.
Tickets are $5 for the general public; admission is free with a Mercer ID.
Led by Monty Cole, director of Jazz Studies at Mercer, this year’s concert will feature guest artist Brad Goode (pictured left), who was described as “lyrical genius of the trumpet…The young demon of bebop” by Larry Kart of The Chicago Tribune.
The Jazz Festival will kick off with a combo set of Cole on saxophone; Goode, trumpet; Bob Barnett, bass; Steve Schanin, drums and Jim McKillip, piano. The musicians will play a set list “in the spirit of a jam session.”
Also on tap for the festival is a big band set with the Mercer Jazz Ensemble, featuring Goode on trumpet. Jazz enthusiasts and Grand Opera House patrons can expect to hear first-rate renditions of Rob McConnell’s “Close Enough for Love,” Drum Kern’s “All the Things You Are,” Coltrane’s “Maima,” Tom Kubis’s “Samba Dees Godda Do It” and “The Messenger” in honor of Woody Shaw.
Prior to the festival, on April 16 and 17, Goode, who teaches jazz trumpet at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, will work with Mercer music students. He received his bachelor of music degree from the University of Kentucky in 1985, studying under renowned trumpeter Vincent DiMartino. He earned his master of music degree from DePaul University in 1987, where he studied double bass with Larry Gray.
Goode went on to work with the combos of Red Rodney, Al Cohn, Eddie Harris, Ira Sullivan, Frank Morgan, Don Lanphere, Curtis Fuller, Jack DeJohnette, Ernie Krivda, Barrett Deems and many others. He led his own combo from 1986 until 1998, appearing at major festivals and night clubs around the world.
Goode was also classically trained on violin from age 4, switched to guitar and cornet at age 11. By age 13, he had learned many of Louis Armstrong’s classic solos.
For more information on the concert, call 478-301-2748.
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