Mayfield, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Open UW Cultural Programs' Spring Concert Schedule

Jan. 13, 2009 -- The first concert of the University of Wyoming Cultural Programs' spring concert series promises to be groovy, funky and smokin'.

Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and his New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) will break it down at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, inside the Fine Arts Center concert hall. Tickets cost $30 for the public and $25 for students and senior citizens. Tickets are available by calling the Fine Arts Center box office at (307) 766-6666 or at the Web site www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

"This is a chance to hear the most authentic jazz you're ever likely to hear, straight from the birthplace of American jazz," says UW Cultural Programs Director Cedric Reverand.

As part of UW's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Days of Dialogue, Mayfield will also speak at 4 p.m. in the Wyoming Union. His presentation, titled "Jazz Talks Social Justice," is free and open to the public.

Mayfield received his first trumpet when he was in the fourth grade and began his playing career in the late 1980s with the Algiers Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans-based street act. He later helped found Los Hombres Calientes, a New Orleans jazz group that incorporates Afro-Cuban jazz with rhythm and blues.

Then, in December 2002, Mayfield founded the 16-piece NOJO, an ensemble dedicated to education in the performing arts. To learn more about the orchestra, go to its official Web site at www.thenojo.com.

Annually, Cultural Programs brings a variety of internationally-known performers to campus.

The spring concert series will also feature Diavolo, a dynamic Los Angeles-based dance group that draws its performers from theater, gymnastics, dance and Hollywood stunt crews (Feb. 24); Gilmore Prize winner Ingrid Fliter, who was recently lauded by the Los Angeles Times as "a pianistic force of nature" (April 2); and Quartet New Generation, a contemporary ensemble of recorder players from Amsterdam (April 17).

Photo:
Irvin Mayfield (New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Photo)

Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Rate this article: