University of Maryland Hosts Jazz Performances

After many years of planning and $130 million spent, the University of Maryland at College Park’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center will be open to the public with ten days of dedication festivities and concerts beginning Sept. 21, and jazz will be prominent in both the dedication and the upcoming season.

On Sun. Sept. 23, the Airmen of Note, the Air Force’s premier jazz ensemble will take the stage in the 1,100-seat Concert Hall. Later that day in the Gildenhorn Recital Hall, SoVoSó, a choral group featuring several alumni of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, will present its take on jazz, gospel and R&B.

A week later, the Center hosts an open house with free admission. Prominent among the performers is the Sam Turner Quartet, who will play jazz and Latin jazz standards. In the Concert Hall, the six grand pianos that make up the University of Maryland Piano Choir will play Eubie Blake (whose music has become a specialty of theirs) and occasionally accompany vocalist Ethel Ennis.

The coming season also features several jazz performers: Regina Carter (pictured left) with her quintet on Oct. 13, seminal saxophonist Joe Lovano on Feb. 11 and the Cyrus Chestnut Trio on Feb. 24.

For more information, or to order tickets, call (301) 405-ARTS or visit www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.

Originally Published September 18, 2001