IT News

Living Legend and NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson to Perform in Jazz Room Series Concert on December 7

Benny Golson, the legendary tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger will perform with the William Paterson University Jazz Orchestra on Friday, December 7, in the final concert of the University’s fall 2012 Jazz Room Series. The concert will be held at 8 p.m. in the University’s Shea Center for Performing Arts as part of this seasons Jazz Room series.

Prior to the concert, Golson will be the guest for “Sittin’ In,” an informal discussion about jazz, at 7 p.m. in Shea Center. Admission is free to all Jazz Room ticket holders. Tickets are available at the Shea Center Box Office in advance, 973.720.2371 or wp-presents.org, or on the day of the performance at $15 general; $12 senior citizens, William Paterson faculty, staff and alumni; and $8 for non-William Paterson students. William Paterson students may attend free of charge.

Benny Golson is a tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger, lyricist, producer, and educator. His performance experience includes Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, The Jazztet, Dizzy Gillespie, and his own bands. For this concert, he will perform his arrangements and original compositions with the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra. Golson, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, is a prolific composer and recording artist. For more than fifty-five years, Golson has enjoyed an illustrious musical career in which he recorded, composed, and arranged music for Count Basie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Mama Cass Elliott, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Shirley Horn, Davy Jones and the Monkees, Quincy Jones, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day, Itzhak Perlman, Oscar Peterson, Lou Rawls, Mickey Rooney, Diana Ross, Mel Tormé, George Shearing, and Dusty Springfield. Golson makes a cameo appearance in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal.

Launched in 1978, the Jazz Room is one of the largest and most prestigious college-sponsored jazz events in the country. Performers include renowned professionals who encompass the complete spectrum of jazz, as well as William Paterson’s own student ensembles. The series has won numerous grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for its innovative programming.