The ELLEN ROWE TRIO: The Women Behind the Words
featuring vocalist Sunny Wilkinson & bassist marion Hayden
Sunday, May 8th @ 2:00 PM
Kerrytown Concert House welcomes back to the stage a tour de force trio to celebrate Mother’s Day by honoring the great contributions of female composers and lyricists from several different genres, including Joni Mitchell, Marilyn Bergman, Carole King, Billie Holiday, Sunny Wilkinson and Ellen Rowe. Bring your Mom for a special afternoon of women in Jazz!
COVID-19 Safety Policy for Indoor Concerts
- Moving forward, all patrons and artists who wish to attend or present performances indoors at KCH must provide a valid, complete COVID-19 vaccination card OR proof of a negative COVID-19 test performed by a third party within the previous 72 hours prior to entry. Such proof must be presented at concert check-in, may be displayed on a smartphone OR presented as a physical copy, and must also be accompanied by a matching, valid ID for verification.**
- Additionally, according to current CDC recommendations, masks are required for audiences inside the House and can only be removed when seated with a beverage (when available). When performing, artists may wear a mask, or not, at their own discretion.
**Proof of vaccination exceptions will be made for children under 5. These guests must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours prior to entry.
Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and previously served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut. Winner of the Hartford, CT Advocate Readers’ Poll for Best Acoustic Jazz, Ms. Rowe has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, South Africa, and Australia. CDs out under her own name include “Sylvan Way”, “Wishing Well”, “Denali Pass” and “Courage Music.” Her latest project, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”, was released in January of 2019. When not leading her own trio, quartet or quintet, she is in demand as a sideman, having performed with a wide variety of jazz artists. Ms. Rowe’s compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, and she was recently a composer-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is on the Board of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers and also serves as the Coordinator for the JEN Sisters In Jazz Collegiate Combo Competition, in addition to being an in-demand clinician.
The child of a Methodist minister, Sunny Wilkinson grew up singing in church and around the piano in four-part harmony with her family. She earned her degree in Choral Education from Arizona State University, and during that time delved into diverse styles of music, singing the operatic roles of Marcellina in the Marriage of Figaro, the Wicked Witch in Hansel and Gretel, as well as the role of Winnifred in the musical comedy Once Upon a Mattress. She also played trombone and sang in the ASU jazz band. Weekend nights, she played and sang in a jazz fusion band called Goldmine.
After college, Sunny spent fifteen years in Los Angeles, honing her professional chops as a jazz recording artist, session singer, performer, and teacher. She sang on the theme and numerous episodes of “Saved By the Bell,” and was a “Solid Gold” singer, backing Marilyn McCoo and Dionne Warwick, both on screen and in the recording studio. For twelve years, Borrowed Time, an eclectic jazz vocal group with Sunny on alto, performed in LA clubs and jazz festivals.
In 1989, Sunny recorded her debut CD, Alegria, for Hibrite records of Japan, which was produced by Stix Hooper, the drummer for the Jazz Crusaders. Alegria featured such stellar players as John Patitucci and Ernie Watts. Swing Journal heralded its arrival on the charts at number five in Japan. In 1992, Sunny recorded a live version of Round Midnight, with full orchestra, for Honda of Japan. This national television ad campaign was released as a single CD by Hibrite Records.
Wilkinson’s self titled release for Positive Music Records (1993) highlighted her love of jazz, fusion and pop, and thrust her into a nonstop touring schedule of jazz festivals, concerts and club gigs.
In 1993, Sunny moved to Okemos, Michigan to be with her new husband, Dr. Ron Newman, who was head of the Jazz Studies Area at Michigan State University. Since that time, they have been in partnership, playing music, writing tunes, and producing CDs, not to mention raising their wonderful family.
Shortly after moving to Michigan, Sunny was asked to be the head of the Woman’s Caucus for the International Association of Jazz Educators. Knowing that she needed a project to anchor her vision (Where are the women jazz players? Let’s give them a voice and a platform.), she launched “Sisters In Jazz” a mentoring program for young women, which was taken to an international level through IAJE. Alumni of SIJ include Tia Fuller, Anat Cohen, and Sarah Caswell.
In 1998, Sunny released her third CD, High Wire, a big band recording featuring arrangements by husband Ron Newman, and a close friend from ASU days, Charlie Argersinger. Not just another swinging bunch of standards, this CD spotlights tunes by the Yellow Jackets and Major Harris, as well as a tone poem on the beautiful ballad “Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair?”
Sunny’s fourth release, A Gentle Time, When Sunny Meets Tom, is a duo collaboration with the legendary LA pianist Tom Garvin. Gene Bertoncini says, ”I love this CD from top to bottom. It’s just so exquisite. Everything she sings is so right. The little different sounds in her voice and the way she sustains things. And Tom’s playing is magnificent.”
Over the years, Sunny has sung with The Count Basie Band, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Mark Murphy, Milt Hinton, Kenny Wheeler, Clark Terry, Bill Watrous, Ron Carter, Curtis Fuller, Edgar Winter, and Gene Bertoncini, among others. A busy travel schedule has her presenting clinics and performances at universities and jazz festivals, as well as jazz clubs, across the United States.
Sunny has also made significant contributions in jazz education. She has been on the jazz faculty at Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, Cal State Northridge, Fullerton College, and the Dick Grove School of Music, as well as teaching numerous private voice students. Presently she is adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University and an artist in residence at the University of Michigan. She served as a President of the Michigan chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators and the past chairperson for IAJE’s Women’s Caucus. Many of her former students are now the heads of vocal jazz programs at universities around the country and have successful careers as jazz performers and recording artists.
Born in Detroit, MI, a crucible of jazz, Marion Hayden is one of the nation’s finest proponents of the acoustic bass. Mentored by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, Hayden began performing jazz at the age of 15. She has performed with such diverse luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Lester Bowie, David Allen Grier, James Carter, Dorothy Donegan, Joe Williams, Lionel Hampton, Frank Morgan, Jon Hendricks, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Willis, Vanessa Rubin, Sheila Jordan, Mulgrew Miller, Annie Ross and many others. She is a co-founder of the touring jazz ensemble Straight Ahead- the first all woman jazz ensemble signed to Atlantic Records. She is a member of the Detroit International Jazz Festival All-Star Ambassadors touring ensemble.
Widely recognized as a standard bearer of culture and artistic history, Hayden received a 2019 Art X Grant and a Creators of Culture Grant for original musical works. She was Artistic Director for a 2018 Knight Arts Foundation Grant encouraging young women in jazz. In 2016 Hayden washonored for her work as a performer and educator with the prestigious Kresge Artist Fellowship – a 1 year fellowship and grant award given an elite group of creative artists. She was the recipient of a 2016 Jazz Hero Award.- a national award given by the Jazz Journalists Association recognizing people who have made a significant contribution through their artistry and community engagement.
As an arts advocate, Hayden has served as Grant Panelist for the Detroit Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Art-Ops and the Highland Park Cultural Commission. She also serves as panelist or consultant for South Arts, Detroit Sound Conservancy, Charles Wright Museum of African American History, the Kresge Foundation, Jazz Education Network and Society of the Culturally Concerned.
A passionate advocate for youth music education, Hayden teaches for Michigan State Univ. Community Music School Detroit and is an educator in residence for the Detroit Jazz Festival. As well, she conducts the Next Gen Ensemble- a performing group of some of the areas best young musicians. Hayden holds faculty positions in the Jazz Studies Departments at University of Michigan and Oakland University. Hayden is the Bass instructor for the Geri Allen Jazz Camp, Newark, NJ. , and in 2021 will join the faculty at Centrum Jazz, Port Townsend, WA.
