Sat

4/28/2012

7:00pm

Jazz

Rodney Whitaker

7pm

• $30 Assigned Rows 1-2
• $20 Assigned Rows 3-5
• $15 General Admission
• $10 Student

• Rodney Whitaker, bass
• Diego Rivera, saxophone
• Randy Gelispie, drums
• Reggie Thomas, piano
• guests tba

Event Details

Make a reservation for the 9pm set

On April 28th Rodney Whitaker brings his sextet to Ann Arbor for two sets at 7 and 9 pm. 

Rodney Whitaker

Rodney Whitaker is a Michigan treasure and one of the world’s renowned jazz bass performers and educators. A Detroit native, he grew up in the city soaking in the sounds of jazz and classical music. He completed a seven-year tenure as bassist with the Wynton Marsalis Sextet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He has toured the world over the last twenty years, collaborating with legendary performers such as Dianne Reeves, Mulgrew Miller, Diana Krall, Terence Blanchard, Kathleen Battle, Cyrus Chestnut, Benny Golson, Kenny Garrett, Branford Marsalis, Tommy Flanagan, Curtis Fuller, Donald Byrd, Dizzy Gilispie, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, Cassandra Wilson, Pat Methany, Chick Corea and Roy Hargrove, as well as with leading symphony orchestras. Now based in East Lansing, Whitaker continues to remember his Detroit roots, serving many of the city’s talented students as Director of the Detroit Civic Jazz Orchestra, Musical Director for Jazz Education at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Director of the Jazz in the Studio Mentorship Program and summer jazz camp in cooperation with the Arts League of Michigan. Currently, he is on Michigan State University’s faculty as Director of Jazz Studies and Professor of Jazz Bass and has built a leading jazz degree program and performing faculty, Michigan State University Professors of Jazz as the Artistic Director.

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera has been called, “A vital, new voice on the saxophone.” In 1999, Rivera toured nationally with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra for their Big Band ‘99 U.S. tour. Since then, his performances have taken him throughout North America, Russia and Japan. In 2002, Rivera accepted as position as Instructor of Jazz Saxophone and Improvisation at Michigan State University. The Diego Rivera Quartet won critical acclaim having been recognized as “Best Jazz Act” by the Lansing State Journal. In 2010 he recorded for Mack Avenue Records with The Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra’s performance of “The Movement Revisited” composed and conducted by internationally renown bassist Christian McBride. He currently tours internationally with Canadian Jazz Vocalist, Sophie Milman. An avid composer and arranger, Rivera released his first album entitled Hercules in 2006 featuring all original compositions.

Randy Gelispie

Randy Gelispie has been a professional jazz drummer since he started playing with a 10-piece band in the ninth grade. Gelispie has traveled on the road with Wes Montgomery, Sonny Stitt, Dinah Washington, Etta Jones, Lou Donaldson, and Gene Ammons. In the Detroit area, he has performed with Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Oliver Jones, O. C. Smith, Al Hibbler, and most recently with Geri Allen. 
Blues Musicians he has worked with include Jimmy Witherspoon, John Lee Hooker, and Big Maybelle. Locally, he has played with many great jazz musicians, including Donald Walden, Marcus Belgrave, Perry Hughes, Rodney Whitaker, Gary Schunk, Rick Roe, Marian Hayden, Bill Heid, Andrew Speight, and Wycliffe Gordon. Gelispie is instructor of jazz drums at the Michigan State University College of Music. 

Reggie Thomas

Reginald ("Reggie") Thomas joined the MSU College of Music as professor of jazz (piano) in 2011 after nearly 20 years as professor of music at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. He regularly appears as a guest artist at collegiate jazz festivals around the country, including those hosted by Lawrence University, the University of South Florida, and Texas Tech University. He has also performed internationally in Canada, Italy, Poland, Senegal, and England. He can be seen fronting his own groups (Mardra/Reggie Thomas Ensemble; OGD) on both piano and Hammond organ and performing with other artists including Ann Hampton Callaway and the Carl Allen/Rodney Whitaker Project. His recordings include work with Clay Jenkins, Kim Richmond, and Clark Terry/Mike Vax, as well as his own recordings "Fade to Blue" with his wife, Mardra (MaxJazz), "Standard Time" (Victoria) and "4" (Jazz Compass). He is also a consultant/clinician for Jazz at Lincoln Center, working with the Essentially Ellington Program and the Band Director Academy. He has served on several summer jazz faculties across the country and abroad including the International Association for Jazz Education Teacher Training Institute, the Birch Creek Music Center, the Eastman School of Music Summer Jazz Camp, the Summer Jazz Academy in Chodziez, Poland, and, most recently, the Barbican Center in London.