Raisin' The Roof With The Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra

With the 2011 National High School Champions jazz trophy from the Berklee School of Music already on the mantle, the Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra (SSAJO) is headed to Gotham for the New York Jazz Festival. To raise money for the March trip, the band is performing a fundraising concert at Stivers Centennial Hall on Saturday, January 21st at 8 PM. Tickets are only $10.

Derrick Gardner, an explosive trumpeter who has been prominently showcased in the Count Basie Orchestra, Harry Connick's Jazz Orchestra and the Jazz Prophets, will be the featured soloist that evening. The Stivers repertoire, as exciting and diverse as any big band you will hear--in any age group--will include original arrangements created for Gardner's album "Echos of Ethnicity" plus works by Phillip Michael Mossman, Mike Tomero and Bob Mintzer. Gardner has established a deep partnership with SSAJO director Claude Lucien Thomas and orchestra musicians over the past several years.

If you've enjoyed hearing the Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra at the Cityfolk Festival, in showcases with visiting artists such as Mulgrew Miller and Steve Wilson, or as part of the Celebrating Billy Strayhorn sequence three years ago, you know what a superb and dynamic band this is. And if you have not made it to Stivers Centennial Hall, here's a chance to experience one of the city's best new venues.
The concert is presented by the Jazz Studies Department and the Seedling Foundation. All proceeds will go to funding this trip. Stivers School for the Arts is located at 1313 East Fifth Street. Tickets are available online or by calling 937-546-1675