NIU Jazz Band Concert

The NIU Jazz band will be spending the day at OHS on February first.  Jazz students from both OHS and OEHS will have the opportunity to participate in clinics all afternoon with the day culminating in a Jazz Concert.  This concert will feature performances from both high schools as well as a complete concert from the NIU Jazz Ensemble.  The NIU Jazz Ensemble will have a special guest, Mr. Steve Davis, also participating in the event.  With a roster that includes students from Miami to Milwaukee, the NIU Jazz Ensemble has long been considered one of the best college jazz bands in the world. 

The ensemble performed at the 54th annual Midwest Music Clinic in Chicago with saxophonist Jimmy Heath as the guest artist, and at the 28th annual International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) Conference in New York with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis as the guest artist. 

During the summer of 2001 the band performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, at the Jazz à  Vienne Festival in France, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. 

The list of guest artists with whom the ensemble has performed includes Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Tito Puente and James Moody, just to name a few.

In the summer of 1996 the NIU Jazz Ensemble performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland as Quincy Jones’s big band with guest artists Phil Collins, Patti Austin, David Sanborn, Gerald Albright, Chaka Kahn, Toots Theilman and James Morrison. 

Special Guest Trombonist  Steve Davis (born in 1967) is an American jazz trombonist who plays hard bop, post-bop, and standards. His primary influences are J. J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Slide Hampton, Jackie McLean, Freddie Hubbard, Dexter Gordon,Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Cedar Walton, McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane.

Davis was raised in Binghamton, New York where he grew up with jazz music being played in the household^[1] (father's record collection, grandparents played). The Binghamton scene included many talented musicians including mentors Doug Beardsley (Music Box jam sessions) and Al Hamme (SUNY Binghamton) as well as peers Kris Jensen, Tony Kadleck, Tom Dempsey,Dena DeRose, John Hollenbeck and many others. He is married to the pianist Mary Di Paola-Davis.

If you enjoy live music or jazz, this is an event you should not miss.

Tickets will only be available in the box office on the evening of the event.  The performances will start at 7:00.  Ticket prices are $10.00 for Adults and $5.00 for students with ID and Seniors.  There will also be a special family price of $25.00 so bring the kids and enjoy the music.