Brazosport College Jazz Singers, Jazz Band celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month with concert on April 1
The Brazosport College Jazz Band and Jazz Singers, with special guests Brad Ard, guitar; Jovol Bell, drums; Anthony Caceres, bass/vocals; and Mike Mizma, pan/vibes, will present a concert in celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month on Friday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. at The Clarion at Brazosport College, 500 College Drive, Lake Jackson. The concert is free, and the public is cordially invited.
Guitarist Brad Ard is currently a part-time instructor at Brazosport College. Ard hails from Chicago, Ill. and has lived, performed and taught throughout the U.S. He is a multi-faceted guitarist and has released two compact discs of original material, as well as toured and/or recorded with famous musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Rodby, Michael Manring, Bill Evans (sax) and Danny Gottlieb.
Drummer Jovol Bell is a former Brazosport College student currently living in New York City. Bell has recently completed tours in Europe and Canada, as well as a three-month artist residency in India in Fall 2010. A recent graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, A.K.A "Bam Bam" currently has his own band "Reality" and is working on a record project that is soon to be released.
Anthony Caceres is a well sought out Jazz bassist who has performed with jazz greats Carl Fontana, Ed Soph and Marvin Stamm, to name just a few. Most recently, he was performing with the Miss Saigon Musical and has toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the states and in Japan. Caceres earned his Bachleor's degree in Jazz Studies at the prestigious University of North Texas in 2003. He also had the opportunity to study with Jeff Bradetich and Lynn Seaton, as well as electric greats Mark Egan and Michael Manring.
Michael Mizma is a Professor of Music at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, TX, where he teaches Percussion, Steel Band, Audio Engineering, MIDI, Music Business and Music Theory. In the summer of 2008, he went to Seoul, Korea and gave a weeklong session of master classes and performances in jazz performance and drumset. In addition to teaching, Mizma maintains a very busy performing career in and around the Houston metropolitan area. He is the founder of the Caribbean Jazz group “Tropic Envoy,” and on his most recent project, “Samba Nova,” he performed, produced, recorded and mixed the entire CD.
Selections to be performed on April 1 include the following from the BC Jazz Band:
St. James Infirmary by Joe Primrose: A traditional New Orleans standard re-cast in a modern hip-hop version.
Better Get Hit In Your Soul by Charles Mingus: An infectious jazz-gospel waltz by jazz bassist Charles Mingus.
Gentle Rain by Luiz Bonfa: A gorgeous Brazilian bossa nova
Fuego Frio by Richard Birk: A brand-new original by BC Jazz Band director Richard Birk that is “fiery, yet mysterious”.
Selections from the Jazz Singers will include:
Swingle Song by Darmon Meader: A tribute to the Swingle Singers by New York Voices member Darmon Meader
I’m Yours by Jason Mraz: Mraz's recent pop hit that is the sixth best selling digital song of all time in the U.S.
Brad Ard, Jovol Bell, Anthony Caceres and Mike Mizma will be featured as a quartet on the second half of the concert. Selections that they will perform include Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me, Seven Steps to Heaven and September in the Rain.
For more information please contact Vorin Dornan, Director of The Clarion at Brazosport College at (979) 230-3156.
More About Jazz Appreciation Month: The Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Behring Center is leading the initiative to designate one month for an annual public spotlight on jazz. Jazz Appreciation Month (or JAM) is intended to draw the public’s attention to the glories of jazz as both an historical, and a living treasure. The idea is to encourage musicians, concert halls, schools, colleges, museums, libraries, and public broadcasters to offer special programs on jazz every April. Related intentions are: to draw greater public attention to the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz; to stimulate the current jazz scene; and to encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz by studying the music, attending concerts, listening to jazz on radio and recordings, reading books about jazz, and supporting institutional jazz programs. Organizations engaged in the JAM initiative are: National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Department of Education, MENC: The National Association for Music Education, the International Association of Jazz Educators, the U.S. Department of State, The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, The ASCAP Foundation, BMI, and National Public Radio.