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NMU Jazz Festival set for this week

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University Jazz Festival will include two evening performances featuring guest artist Dean Sorenson. The trombonist will perform with the NMU Jazz Festival Faculty Combo during a 7:30 p.m. opening concert on Thursday in the Reynolds Recital Hall.

Sorenson will also share the Forest Roberts Theatre stage with the NMU Jazz Band and Jazz Combo for the closing concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets for each event are $12 for general admission and free for students.

Sorenson will also hold a free educational clinic that is open to the public starting at 1 p.m. Friday in the Reynolds Recital Hall. He is associate professor and director of jazz studies at the University of Minnesota. He is also a prolific and highly sought-after composer, arranger, trombonist, educator and clinician. Visit his website, www.deansorensonmusic.com, to see his recent jazz pedagogy books, compositions and recording projects.

Throughout the three-day festival, there will also be performances by high school and middle school students from the region. Middle school jazz bands will perform from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Reynolds Recital Hall, followed by lunch and an NMU Jazz Band performance.

High school jazz bands will perform from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday in Reynolds Recital Hall, followed by 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 2:15 to 5 p.m. performances on Friday in the Northern Center. These events are free and open to the public.

NMU has presented numerous jazz clinics and concerts over the last 50 years, but the current festival format began in 1998, when the student organization NMU Friends of Jazz invited the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry to perform a concert with the NMU Jazz Band. Several local high school bands were invited to participate in clinics in conjunction with the event, and the positive responses from participants and audience members suggested that an annual jazz festival would be well-received.

For more information and a full schedule of events, visit https://nmu.edu/music/jazz-festival.

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