Release date: Feb. 9, 2005
Contact: Sally Corbett, Asst. Director for Marketing and Public Relations, Performing Arts,
at 404-727-6678 or sacorbe@emory.edu

2005 Emory Jazz Fest Boasts Eddie Daniels and Big Band Events

Jazz enthusiasts are in for two nights of swinging, sophisticated fun during Emory University's annual Jazz Festival. The festival begins with a public workshop on Thursday, Feb. 10 and is followed by concerts on Feb. 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. in Emerson Concert Hall, Schwartz Center.

Friday night's concert features 2005 Emory Coca-Cola Artist-in-Residence Eddie Daniels, a Grammy Award-winning clarinetist, performing with the Gary Motley Trio ($15; faculty/staff $10; free for Emory students with I.D.). The Emory Big Band, a student ensemble led by director of jazz studies Gary Motley, takes the stage on Saturday night for a free public concert. For more information on these and other jazz events at Emory or for advance tickets to Eddie Daniels, call 404-727-5050 or go online to www.arts.emory.edu. The program for each festival concert will be announced from stage.

Daniels sets the tone for the festival on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 2:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center's Tharp Rehearsal Hall when he delivers a Perspective on Performance Series lecture/demonstration on improvisation and composition. This event is free and open to the public. Beyond Daniels's extensive touring and recording career, the multi-instrumentalist with jazz and classical roots is known for his clinics on technique, improv and overcoming performance anxiety, and for sharing his personal perspective on being a music maker with young musicians.

"The most fun happens in music when you're not doing it, when the music plays itself," says Daniels. "Why is this night different than all other nights? Why is music different from anything else in life? When we let things flow, joy happens."

Leonard Bernstein once said, "Eddie Daniels combines elegance and virtuosity. … He is a thoroughly well-bred demon." To hear audio clips of his music, visit www.EddieDanielsclarinet.com. Daniels began studying clarinet at age 13, eventually earning a master's degree in clarinet from The Juilliard School, New York. He first performed jazz as tenor saxophonist with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1966 at New York's legendary Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village. That same year he won first prize for saxophone at the International Competition for Modern Jazz in Vienna. In 1968 an inspired clarinet solo on a Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra recording led to his winning Downbeat Magazine's International Critics New Star on Clarinet award.

A multi-faceted musician, Daniels is considered a virtuoso in both classical music and jazz, playing the music of Mozart as easily as that of Charlie Parker. Daniels has made 20 albums, earned Grammy Awards and nominations, and performed with leading orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.

Joining Daniels on Friday night is the Gary Motley Trio, with Motley on piano, Neil Starkey on bass and Mike Shepherd on percussion. An active performer, Motley has appeared with Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis, Joe Lovano, Dave Brubeck, Terence Blanchard and others, and has been a guest on Marian McPartland's National Public Radio program, "Piano Jazz." Starkey has recorded with Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard and the CBS All-stars, and has performed with Barney Kessel and Kenny Barron as well as with the Georgia State University Faculty Jazztet. Shepherd is a retired Armed Forces School of Music instructor (Norfolk, Va.) and has performed with the Navy Commodores, Maynard Ferguson and Clark Terry, among others.

ARTS AT EMORY

Emory is home to a vibrant arts community and welcomes the public to more than 200 annual events featuring student, faculty and guest artists. As many as 80 concerts are performed each year, ranging from presentations by internationally-acclaimed artists in the Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series and Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence series to presentations by more than a dozen Emory music ensembles. The Schwartz Center for Performing Arts opened in February 2003, and houses the Dance Studio, Theater Laboratory and the 825-seat, state-of-the-art Cherry Logan Emerson Concert Hall.

The mission for the arts at Emory is to provide a dynamic, multidisciplinary environment for the study, creation and presentation of the arts. For more information on the Schwartz Center or arts at Emory events, visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.schwartzcenter.emory.edu or call the Arts at Emory Box Office at 404-727-5050.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Photographs are available upon request.

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