The Queens Jazz Orchestra (QJO)

Friday, May 29, 2009, 8:00 PM
$40 / $32 Members / $20 Students*

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Last May, jazz history was made when the 17-piece Queens Jazz Orchestra (QJO), a program of Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, performed their inaugural concert at Flushing Town Hall. On May 29, 2009 at 8 pm, QJO, under the direction of jazz icon Jimmy Heath, will once again perform at Flushing Town Hall. The Queens Jazz Orchestra's mission is to rejuvenate and revitalize the musical legacy that has existed in Queens for decades by performing music from the legends that lived throughout the borough and exposing new generations to their compositions. The borough of Queens is the natural heir to an illustrious legacy of jazz. That legacy continues with the Queens Jazz Orchestra.



The May 29th QJO concert will feature music by legendary musicians and composers who resided in Queens like Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Clark Terry, and Frank Wess. Conductor Jimmy Heath will also be adding in some big band arrangements for this concert. Because an important aspect of The Queens Jazz Orchestra is to nurture the next generation of musicians and composers in jazz, Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon will debut "CyberSwing"- Jazz in the Digital Age, which is a musical suite that begins with the Orchestra playing early jazz styles, transitioning into swing and Be-Bop, which then transmogrifies into the orchestra using contemporary digital synthesizers and drum machines, a somewhat contemporary vision of jazz through the eyes of technology. "CyberSwing" is a Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts' commission.

Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. Gordon received the Jazz Journalists Association 2008, 2007, 2006, 2002 and 2001 Award for Trombonist of the Year, and the Jazz Journalists Association 2000 Critics' Choice Award for Best Trombone. In addition to a thriving solo career, he tours regularly leading the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, headlining at legendary jazz venues throughout the world. Gordon is a former veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and has been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor's "Jazz at the Kennedy Center" Series.

Gordon's musical prowess has been captured on numerous recordings, including thirteen solo CDs and seven co-leader CDs. His latest recordings, "Boss Bones" and "You and I" were released in June 2008. Gordon is featured on numerous recordings with the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and many others as evidenced in his extensive discography. Wycliffe Gordon is also a gifted composer and arranger. His compositions have been performed by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, the Brass Band of Battle Creek and numerous other ensembles, and performed in programs throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Gordon's television appearances have included the Grammy Awards, the PBS special documentary "Swingin' with the Duke," and two Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra - "Uptown Blues, Ellington at 100" (a collaboration with the New York Philharmonic) and "Big Train." Gordon also appeared in Ken Burns' documentary "Jazz."

Gordon is rapidly becoming one of America's most persuasive and committed music educators. His work with young musicians and audiences from elementary schools to universities all over the world is extensive, and includes master classes, clinics, workshops, children's concerts and lectures - powerful evidence of his unique ability to relate musically to people of all ages. Gordon is the youngest member of the U.S. Statesmen of Jazz, and in many tour performances has served and continues to serve as a musical ambassador for the U.S. State Department.



The Queens Jazz Orchestra
Directed by Jimmy Heath
Special Guest: Wycliffe Gordon

-Trumpets-
Tanya Darby
Frank Green
Michael Philip Mossman
Jim Rotondi

-Saxophones-
Sharel Cassity
Charles Davis
Antonio Hart
Ivan Renta

-Trombones-
John Mosca
Jason Jackson
Douglas Purviance

-Bass-
David Wong

-Piano-
Jeb Patton

-Drums-
Willie Jones

-Vocalist-
Antoinette Montaque

The QJO concert is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

* Student Rush
- Student Rush Tickets will be available for sale on May 29, from 10AM.
- Students can purchase up to two tickets $20 each through Flushing Town Hall Box Office.
- Tickets must be purchased at the box office.
- A valid student ID must be presented.

For more information, please call box office at (718) 463-7700 x 222