Invest in the Arts at WP
At William Paterson University, we believe in the transformative power of the arts. The mission of WP Presents! is to bring exceptional performances and exhibitions to our community, offering a diverse and inspiring lineup that engages, challenges, and entertains. We invite you to make a meaningful difference by supporting affordable, world-class performances that captivate audiences. Reach out to us, so together we can champion the future of the arts at William Paterson University.

Jazz Room Series

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To receive up-to-date information about the Jazz Room Series and other performing arts programs at Shea Center, please join our mailing list.

  • About the Jazz Room Series

  • Inaugurated in the spring of 1978, the Jazz Room Series is the longest-running campus-based jazz concert series in the nation. With a tradition of encompassing the complete spectrum of jazz from New Orleans to the avant-garde, it features world-class professionals and William Paterson student ensembles. There are three series of concerts each year, including the six-concert Fall and Spring Jazz Room Series, and the weeklong Summer Jazz Room held the third week of July.

    The Jazz Room has received over two decades of continuous grant support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, as well as numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series has been featured on national and metropolitan-area media, including recorded broadcasts and live CD recording sessions.

    The Jazz Room Series is directly connected to the William Paterson Jazz Studies Program. Unique among college and university programs, the Jazz Studies program is one of the few in the nation with an emphasis on small-group playing, improvisation, and a genuine commitment to the jazz tradition. Founded by music faculty member Martin Krivin and joined by trumpeter/arranger Thad Jones in 1973, the program was led by bassist Rufus Reid for twenty years, then by the great jazz pianists James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, and most recently Bill Charlap, who accepted the position in fall 2015. The program is co-led and coordinated by David Demsey. The artist/teacher faculty is made up of world-class New York area professionals.

    The program is a true jazz environment in which students learn firsthand about the jazz world and the requirements for becoming a successful professional musician. Jazz majors come to William Paterson this year from twenty-six states and six foreign countries, including a number of Fulbright Scholars.

    The University also presents the Summer Jazz Workshop for high school students. The University's Summer Jazz Workshop, active since 1994, is a week-long intensive program in late July, featuring classes, small-group rehearsals and performances, and clinics taught by William Paterson resident faculty and special guest clinicians.

    William Paterson University is home to the Living Jazz Archive, which includes the personal music archive of legendary trumpeter and educator Clark Terry, as well as the archives of Thad Jones, James Williams and Michael Brecker. The Living Jazz Archive provides students, researchers, and visitors with the opportunity to explore original jazz manuscripts and other materials that are an important part of jazz history.

    Grant Logos

    WP Presents! and The Jazz Room Series events are made possible in part by a grant from the NJ Council on the Arts/Dept. of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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    Jazz Room Series Partner



  • Will Downing
    May 09, 2025 @ 8:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    They say a man’s “soul” is his spiritual essence.  Life’s twists and turns can lift that soul high into the sky or send it crashing to the ground below.  Unfortunately, 2023 started with the latter for Will Downing, following the unexpected and soul-crushing loss of daughter Aron Siobhan Downing in January.  As a father, he was devastated…heartbroken.  As an artist, he sought solace and comfort through his craft…facing the hurt head-on and exploring multiple themes of love to begin the healing. Persevering through the pain Downing is poised to finish the year with his soul rising…literally!  The Prince of Sophisticated Soul is ready to share his 7- song masterclass in triumph over tragedy, Soul Rising! 

    Celebrating an insane 35 years in the “bizness” and 27 Albums to his credit Will Downing will not be stopped!  Flexing on his international appeal, the lead single "What Part of My Love" shot to the top of the UK Soul Chart Top 30 and parked there.  Those who no longer listen to new releases as the collective work it was intended to be, should make an exception in this case.  Although not a "concept" album, the pieces of Soul Rising fit together beautifully as a single statement and should be enjoyed as such.  We all know the about the smoothness, but there's a brand-new kind of...dare I say..."Funkiness", that I think is here to stay!  

    Make no mistake...Will Downing didn't forget the "smooth" that made the Man the Myth the Legend!  Nor did he abandon his world-famous knack for what he affectionately calls "interpretations" of classic hits.  

    There will be no Sittin’ In session prior to this concert

    Tickets:
    Gold Circle $75
    Orchestra/Front Loge $65
    Rear Loge $55


     
  • The Dan Pugach Big Band
    Jul 21, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Composer and drummer Dan Pugach brings his big band to Shea for the very first time this summer, featuring music from his 2025 GRAMMY® Award-winning album Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence, featuring Nicole Zuratis. This adds to his growing list of awards as a composer, which include ASCAP Foundation Jazz Composer Award, and the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize. He also played drums on the 2024 GRAMMY® Award-winning album How Love Begins. Pugach, who was born in Isreal and has spent time in Rio de Janeiro and Boston before moving to our area, also leads a nonet, which along with his big band, performs in well-established NYC venues and at international festivals and performing arts centers.

    General Admission: $20 (includes $3 ticket fee)
    Series Subscription: $75 Summer Jazz Pass     (Includes all 5 Summer Jazz concerts for one low price and total savings of $25. Jazz Pass must be purchased before the first show on Monday, July 21, 2025.)


     
  • Manuel Valera and New Cuban Express
    Jul 22, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Born and raised in Havana, pianist, composer and Guggenheim Fellow Manuel Valera is a well-established NYC musician. He has collaborated as a pianist and composer with artists such as Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D’Rivera, Brian Lynch, Dafnis Prieto, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Jeff “Tain” Watts, John Benitez, Samuel Torres, Yosvany Terry, and classical violin virtuoso Joshua Bell. Valera has released 18 albums as a bandleader including with New Cuban Express, a trio, the New Cuban Express Big Band, and playing solo piano works. Along with the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, he has been awarded three Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grants, two Dranoff International Piano Foundation commissions, and the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award. He has performed in more than 30 countries at some of the world’s most prominent international venues and festivals.

    General Admission: $20 (includes $3 ticket fee)
    Series Subscription: $75 Summer Jazz Pass     (Includes all 5 Summer Jazz concerts for one low price and total savings of $25. 
    Jazz Pass must be purchased before the first show on Monday, July 21, 2025.)


     
  • April May Webb and Sounds of A & R
    Jul 23, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Born and raised in Havana, pianist, composer and Guggenheim Fellow Manuel Valera is a well-established NYC musician. He has collaborated as a pianist and composer with artists such as Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D’Rivera, Brian Lynch, Dafnis Prieto, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Jeff “Tain” Watts, John Benitez, Samuel Torres, Yosvany Terry, and classical violin virtuoso Joshua Bell. Valera has released 18 albums as a bandleader including with New Cuban Express, a trio, the New Cuban Express Big Band, and playing solo piano works. Along with the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, he has been awarded three Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grants, two Dranoff International Piano Foundation commissions, and the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award. He has performed in more than 30 countries at some of the world’s most prominent international venues and festivals.

    General Admission: $20 (includes $3 ticket fee)
    Series Subscription: $75 Summer Jazz Pass     (Includes all 5 Summer Jazz concerts for one low price and total savings of $25. Jazz Pass must be purchased before the first show on Monday, July 21, 2025.)


     
  • The Dayna Stephens Quartet
    Jul 24, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    One of today’s best-known tenor saxophonists, Dayna Stephens is an in-demand bandleader and sideman, lauded for his lyrical style and rhythmic explorations as both a player and composer. Raised in the Bay Area and educated at Berklee College of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, he was the first-place recipient of the 2019 DownBeat Critics Poll in the Rising Star–Tenor Saxophone category. Over the past fifteen years, the prolific Stephens has released thirteen albums under his name, including his latest release Hopium and his 2024 album Closer Than We Think. He has toured and recorded with many renowned artists such as Kenny Barron, Julian Lage, Gerald Clayton, Linda Oh, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Al Foster. Stephens teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and William Paterson University.

    General Admission: $20 (includes $3 ticket fee)
    Series Subscription: $75 Summer Jazz Pass     (Includes all 5 Summer Jazz concerts for one low price and total savings of $25. 
    Jazz Pass must be purchased before the first show on Monday, July 21, 2025.)


     
  • Wycliffe Gordon and Friends
    Jul 25, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Wycliffe Gordon is one of today’s most outstanding trombonists. A composer and arranger as well, he has been in the limelight since 1988 when he joined the Wynton Marsalis Septet and subsequently the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Currently, Gordon tours the world as a soloist and with his own group; in 2018 he represented the US on State Department tour to Sri Lanka where he premiered a piece written for Sri Lanka’s 70th anniversary. He has 21 CDs as a leader, has been named the Jazz Journalist’s Association’s Trombonist of the Year 13 times and Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll six times. Recipient of numerous awards and honors, Gordon has an extensive catalog of original compositions, and his arrangement of the theme music of NPR’s “All Things Considered” is heard daily around the globe. He is also a committed music educator, serving as Director of Jazz Studies at Augusta University.

    General Admission: $20 (includes $3 ticket fee)
    Series Subscription: $75 Summer Jazz Pass     (Includes all 5 Summer Jazz concerts for one low price and total savings of $25. 
    Jazz Pass must be purchased before the first show on Monday, July 21, 2025.)