Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
The twenty-two-piece Jazz Orchestra I (The Be-Bop Spartans) is a young, swinging college band playing the repertoire of the great jazz masters as well as a wide range of soul, swing, blues, and gospel. The group’s instrumentation includes saxophone, trombone, trumpet, bass, drums, piano, guitar, and vocalists. The members of Jazz Orchestra I frequently participate in community residencies throughout Michigan and conduct workshops, concerts, and master classes with children in various public schools in the State of Michigan through the College of Music’s outreach and engagement program. These students also have the unique opportunity to work, perform, network with and be mentored by jazz artists of the highest caliber who come to campus for 4-one-week residencies funded by an endowment from the MSU Federal Credit Union. Former guest artists include Antonio Hart, Jon Faddis, Jeff Hamilton, Christian McBride, Robin Eubanks, Peter Bernstein, Brian Lynch and a host of others. This ensemble has been featured at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Detroit International Jazz Festival, Notre Dame Jazz Festival, Elmhurst Collegiate Jazz Festival, University of Trinidad & Tobago, Japan Tour, and last appeared at the Midwest Clinic in December 2010.
Michigan State University Jazz Orchestra I (The Be-Bop Spartans)
Conductor's Bio
University distinguished professor, Mack Avenue recording artist, artistic director of the East Lansing Summer Solstice Jazz Festival and Michigan State University Professors of Jazz, Rodney Whitaker has stayed the course. From his early acclaim as a bassist with the Harrison/Blanchard Quintet, Roy Hargrove Quintet, Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra bringing forth new energy, mentorship and new audiences to the jazz art form, he has cultivated and developed his talents and his perspectives as a musician, composer, bandleader and educator – a 21st Century essential of artistic and educational excellence. Dedicated to changing the future of jazz in the classroom, Professor Rodney Whitaker has proclaimed to raise 1,000 mentors who will each raise 1,000 mentors. Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, bassist Rodney Whitaker exemplifies a commitment to musical excellence and a fortitude to keep music at the forefront.
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