Headlining guest clinicians for the Hastings College Jazz Festival include two members of the original The Blues Brothers Band and other outstanding performers who travel across the country and around the world.
The Festival is scheduled for April 1 and 2 on campus, with the Festival Concert set for Monday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Lynn Farrell Arena. Details can found at hastings.edu/jazzfestival.
For high school and middle school bands and musicians, the Festival’s format is changing this year to allow bands to spend more time working with the guest clinicians. On Monday, April 1, bands will perform in Lynn Farrell Arena with two clinicians present, then spend 30-40 minutes working with those clinicians in the Fuhr Hall of Music.
On the morning of Tuesday, April 2, students can spend time in small groups meeting and working with the clinicians.
Clinicians for the 2019 Hastings College Jazz Festival include Thomas “Bones” Malone and “Blue” Lou Marini, members of the original Blues Brothers band; Kirk Garrison, Joey Gulizia, Tony Gulizia and Keri Chryst.
“This Hastings College Jazz Festival is larger in scope this year,” said Dr. Byron Jensen of Hastings College. “Conversations began a year ago, and since then, everything has come together as if it was meant to be.”
While the clinicians are featured in the Hastings College Jazz Festival and evening Concert, they are also Artists in Residence for Hastings Public Schools, and will meet and work with fourth grade through high school students the afternoon of April 2 and morning of April 3.
Hastings College and Hastings Public Schools partnered to bring in the well-known performers.
“I’ve appreciated working with Rick Matticks from Hastings Public Schools, as he’s been the point person for the guest artists, and his enthusiasm and scope of the two-day event has shaped the educational outcomes that we hope will inspire student musicians,” Jensen said. Matticks teaches instrumental music for the public schools.
The Hastings College Jazz Festival is a long-standing tradition and an excellent opportunity for middle and high school bands to study with guest clinicians and gain performance experience. It also provides an opportunity for the Hastings community to experience performances from young musicians in the area, Hastings College students and the guest clinicians.
All performances are free and open to the public, with a free will donation accepted at the concert, with all proceeds going to the Gary Sinise Foundation.
The lineup of bands and concert performers will be announced at a later date.
“Jazz is America’s music. It was born and raised in New Orleans—known as the ‘Cradle of Jazz.’ It headed north to Chicago, Kansas City and New York City where jazz music seemed to define an American society just beginning to understand its prominence in the world. Connected with the blues from the Mississippi Delta and nearly a hundred years later, we still see the value of providing jazz and blues education in our schools,” Jensen said. “The Hastings College Jazz Festival brings this rich history, culture, intensity, musicianship and spontaneity together. I look forward to a great couple of days of music and interaction with world-class musicians.”
Clinician Bios
Thomas “Bones” Malone (trombone) is an American jazz musician, arranger and producer. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone, but also plays trumpet, tuba, various saxophones, clarinets, flutes, piccolo and other instruments. He is famous for being a member of The Blues Brothers Band, Saturday Night Live Band (served as leader of the band from 1981 to 1985), and a member of the CBS Orchestra, the house band for the Late Show with David Letterman. Malone currently plays with the Lt. Dan Band.
“Blue” Lou Marini (saxophone) is one of the most sought after session horn players on saxophone, flute and clarinet. Solo artist, arranger and composer Lou Marini has electrified audiences with his “sultry, seductive and singular” sounds in jazz, rock, blues, classical music and in film and television shows and specials. He’s been a member of Blood, Sweat and Tears, The Saturday Night Live Band, The Blues Brothers Band and his credits include hundreds of albums, many of which have gone platinum.
Kirk Garrison (trumpet) is a veteran of the Chicago jazz scene, and trumpeter/arranger who served in the United States Air Force Band until 1992. He is a member of the jazz faculty at Concordia University Chicago and Elmhurst College. As a member of the Lt. Dan Band featuring actor Gary Sinise, Garrison performs for scores of active duty military members, veterans and their families, including many charity organizations for disabled veterans. The band has toured extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He also performs as a guest soloist and clinician/adjudicator at middle schools, high schools and colleges throughout the country. He is a Schilke artist and a Denis Wick performing artist.
Joey Gulizia (percussion) has been performing since childhood. By the age of 10, he was drumming regularly with his father Joe Gulizia Sr. and brother Tony. Joey’s been involved in music education for over 30 years. He has conducted hundreds of residencies, workshops and clinics for students of all ages. He has been inducted to the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame and has received the Excellence in Education award by the Governor of Nebraska. Joey has traveled extensively including all 50 of the United States. Just this past year, Joey was drumming in Austria and Switzerland, performed on the annual Gulizia Brothers Jazz Cruise to Alaska and the Caribbean, and he once again toured with the Mannheim Steamroller.
Tony Gulizia (keyboard and vocals) began his music career at the age of 8, working with his father, and, later, with Joey, his brother. Tony studied music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. It was there the Gulizia Brothers were formed. In 1979, the talented musical duo began working, in conjunction with the Nebraska Arts Council, in the Artists in Schools program. By 1990, their involvement in music programs for youth had escalated to leadership in the Mid-America Arts Alliance, involving themselves increasingly in Artist in Schools programs spanning a seven-state region.
Keri Chryst (vocalist) is international performer and educator, currently living and working in Paris, France – by way of Chicago, where she studied jazz at Northwestern University. Her spunky, authentic “in the pocket” swing, soulful groove, together with an instrumental approach to singing and improvisation, have charmed audiences across the Western Hemisphere and fast earned her a reputation as a musician’s singer.
Hastings College is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Hastings College has been named among “Great Schools, Great Prices” by U.S. News & World Report and a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.
