Thursday, April 15, 2010

Saint Mary’s jazz groups to perform April 16

The 18-piece Saint Mary’s University Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo I will perform their final concert of the semester at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday, April 16, in Page Theatre. The featured soloist will be trumpeter Dr. Joe Morgan of Rochester. Both groups are directed by professor of music, Dr. John Paulson.



Guest musician Dr. Morgan has been performing, composing and teaching professionally for nearly 10 years. While pursuing a degree in trumpet performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, he had the opportunity to study with Edmund Cord, former principal trumpet of the Israel Philharmonic and Utah Symphony Orchestras, as well as do jazz improvisation with Pat Harbison and renowned jazz pedagogue David Baker. While at IU, Dr. Morgan led the acclaimed brass quintet 58 Feet of Tubing and organized a re-recording and performance of Columbia Records’ Grammy award-winning 1968 LP The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli by brass faculty and students, including two members of the original personnel.

Since then, he has performed with a variety of orchestral and big band ensembles, including the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony, and Bloomington Pops, as well as the New Millennium Jazz Orchestra, and has shared the stage with several notable jazz musicians, including Mark Colby, Tom “Bones” Malone, Bob Mintzer, Mark Van Cleave and Ernie Watts. He plays on a Bach Stradivarius trumpet and a Yamaha flugelhorn and has been published in national music and medical professional journals.

Dr. Morgan is currently a clinical research fellow in Orthopedic Sports Medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors, and are available at the SMU Box Office, Ext. 1715 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays or online at www.pagetheatre.org.