SummerJazzHeader

All concerts are at 4pm (unless otherwise noted) and are in Shea Center for the Performing Arts

General Admission: Public $15 • WP community and senior citizens $12
Non-William Paterson students $8 • WP students one free ticket with ID at Box Office on day of show.
All tickets are an additional $5 on show day
.

Please click here for our latest COVID-19 safety protocols.
We strongly encourage buying tickets in advance online or by calling the box office.


Each Jazz Room concert is preceded by a “Sittin’ In” meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall. Free to all ticket holders. Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.

To receive up-to-date information about the TheJazz Room Series concerts and other performing arts programs, please join our mailing list here.

  • WP Presents! and Jazz Room Series • The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
    Mar 25, 2023 @ 8:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Celebrating over 45 years since their founding in 1977, New Orleans-based Dirty Dozen Brass Band has taken the traditional foundation of brass band music and incorporated it into a blend of genres including Bebop Jazz, Funk and R&B/Soul. This unique sound, described by the band as a ‘musical gumbo,’ has allowed the Dirty Dozen to tour across 5 continents and more than 30 countries, record 12 studio albums and collaborate with a range of artists from Modest Mouse to Widespread Panic to Norah Jones. Forty-five-plus years later, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world-famous music machine whose name is synonymous with genrebending romps and high-octane performances. 
     
    Members include: Roger Lewis - Baritone Sax/Vocals Kevin Harris - Tenor Sax/Vocals Gregory Davis - Trumpet/Vocals Kirk Joseph - Sousaphone TJ Norris - Trombone/Vocals Julian Addison - Drums Takeshi Shimmura - Guitar 
     
    In 1977, The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club in New Orleans began showcasing a traditional Crescent City brass band. It was a joining of two proud, but antiquated, traditions at the time: social and pleasure clubs dated back over a century to a time when black southerners could rarely afford life insurance, and the clubs would provide proper funeral arrangements. Brass bands, early predecessors of jazz as we know it, would often follow the funeral procession playing somber dirges, then once the family of the deceased was out of earshot, burst into jubilant dance tunes as casual onlookers danced in the streets. By the late '70s, few of either existed. The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club decided to assemble this group as a house band, and over the course of these early gigs, the seven-member ensemble adopted the venue's name: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.


    Reserved Seating: Gold Circle $45 • Orchestra/Front Loge $40 • Rear Loge $35


     

  • WP Latin Jazz Ensemble with soloist Jose Madera
    Mar 26, 2023 @ 4:00 PM
    Location: Shea Auditorium

    Percussionist Jose Madera is steeped in the history of Latin jazz. He is the son of Jose “Pin” Madera, the first arranger for the Machito Orchestra, He spent 31 years with the Tito Puente Orchestra, going on to become a musical arranger and director of the Orchestra. His long career has connected with such legends as Willie Colon, Fania All-Stars, Joe Farrell, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as R&B and pop legends such as Diana Ross and James Brown. This concert brings Madera’s arranging and percussion artistry together with the students of the WP Latin Jazz Orchestra, led by veteran faculty member Chico Mendoza.

    Reserved Seating: $15 General Public • $12 WP community & senior citizens • $8 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID • $5 additional charge on show day per ticket 

    This concert is preceded by a Sittin’ In meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall 101.
    Free to all ticket holders.  Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.


     

  • THAD AT 100: Thad Jones 100th Birthday Celebration
    WP Jazz Orchestra with Special Guests

    Apr 02, 2023 @ 4:00 PM
    Location: Shea Auditorium

    The great bandleader, composer, and cornetist, and William Paterson’s inaugural Jazz Studies director, Thad Jones (1923-1986) would have turned 100 on March 28. During his lifetime, he was already one of the most influential jazz arrangers in jazz, and that influence has only deepened since his passing. He was a full-time WP faculty member from 1972-78, during the time he co-led the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra every Monday night at the Village Vanguard. The Thad Jones Archive now resides at William Paterson, containing original pencil manuscripts and ink parts for his well-known pieces as well as unpublished rarities. This performance features the WP Jazz Orchestra with special guests and will highlight Jones’s compositions for Count Basie and for his own bands in New York and in Copenhagen.

    Reserved Seating: $15 General Public • $12 WP community & senior citizens • $8 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID • $5 additional charge on show day per ticket 

    This concert is preceded by a Sittin’ In meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall 101.
    Free to all ticket holders.  Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.


     

  • WP Presents! & Jazz Room Series
    Dianne Reeves with Romero Lubambo

    Apr 16, 2023 @ 3:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings – a Grammy first in any vocal category.

    Featured in George Clooney’s six-time Academy Award nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Reeves won the Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film's soundtrack. Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first vocalist to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

    Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards featuring her touring trio. When Reeves’ holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, “Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard.”

    In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including “Sing the Truth,” a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions including President Obama's State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors’ Ball.

    Reeves’ most recent release Beautiful Life, features Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and Esperanza Spalding. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life won the 2015 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Reeves is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School.  In 2018 the National Endowment for the Arts designated Reeves a Jazz Master — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists. 

    Dianne Reeves
    Romero Lubambo

    Reserved Seating: Gold Circle $65 • Orchestra and Front Loge $55 • Rear Loge $45

    This concert is preceded by a “Sittin’ In” meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall 101.
    Free to all ticket holders.  Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.

     

  • WP Jazz Studies Program 50th Anniversary Concert with Rufus Reid, Bill Charlap, and Special Alumni Guests
    Apr 23, 2023 @ 4:00 PM
    Location: Shea Auditorium

    Join us for this spring’s Jazz Room finale, our celebration of the 50th year of William Paterson University’s historic Jazz Studies Program. One of the first five jazz degree programs in the nation at its inception, the program has gone on to establish itself as one of the world’s most prestigious places to study jazz. This concert will feature a tribute to the program’s leadership by retired Director of Jazz Studies Rufus Reid and present Director Bill Charlap; the WP Jazz Orchestra with special guests; and stellar alumni from the Jazz Studies Program.

    Reserved Seating: $15 General Public • $12 WP community & senior citizens • $8 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID • $5 additional charge on show day per ticket 

    This concert is preceded by a Sittin’ In meet-the-artist session one hour prior to performance in Shea Recital Hall 101.
    Free to all ticket holders.  Audience members have a chance to meet and interact with that day’s artist in a question-answer format.


     

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.

WBGOlogo02

Jazz Room Series Partner