About the WP Music Department
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Helio Alves is a remarkable Brazilian pianist, who continues to be associated with some of the great Brazilian musicians on the scene, including Claudio Roditi, Duduka da Fonseca, Airto Moreira, and was a member of the band Circlechant led by Santi Debriano. He has appeared on CDs with Slide Hampton, Sadao Watanabe, Paquito D’Rivera, Louis Hayes, and Dave Pietro. He was the pianist on the Grammy-winning album Obrigado Brazil by Yo Yo Ma, and recorded two CDs with the legendary saxophonist Joe Henderson. He moved to Boston at age 18 from his native Sao Paolo to study at the Berklee College of Music, and has been a fixture on the New York Brazilian jazz scene since the early 1990s. His exciting ensemble, which includes guitarist Chico Pinheiro and drummer Alex Kautz, combines the rhythmic flow and complexity of Brazilian traditions with the high energy of modern jazz.
Helio Alves
General Admission: Public $15 • WP community and senior citizens $12Non-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.
Steve Nelson is one of the world’s leading jazz vibraphonists, part of the lineage on his instrument from Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, and Bobby Hutcherson. In addition to his solo work, he has been collaborating with the great bassist Dave Holland, and has toured and recorded with such jazz luminaries as Kenny Barron, saxophonists Johnny Griffin, Jackie McLean, David “Fathead” Newman, and Bobby Watson. He was a close collaborator with former WP Jazz Director, the late Mulgrew Miller, and was a member of Miller’s sextet Wingspan. This concert combines Nelson’s virtuosity with the high-energy WP Jazz Orchestra, and will feature premieres of arrangements of Nelson’s compositions by WP graduate arrangers.
Steve Nelson at All About Jazz
SWEENEY TODD, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Book by Hugh WheelerMusic and Lyrics by Stephen SondheimBased on an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Stage direction by Edward MatthewsMusical direction by Charity WicksChoral direction by Lauren Fowler-Calisto
Sweeney Todd has become a bloody, worldwide success since being awarded eight Tony's, (including Best Musical), for its Broadway premiere. Stephen Sondheim's and Hugh Wheeler's tasty, thrilling, theatrical treat has simultaneously shocked, awed and delighted audiences across the world.
An infamous tale, Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to nineteenth century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which, he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd's thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up... and the carnage has only just begun!
Featuring some of the most chilling music ever written for the stage, this masterpiece is sure both to thrill and delight audiences.
General Admission: Public $15.00 • WP Community, Students & Senior Citizens $10.00Tickets are an additional $5 on show day.
Performances in Shea Center for Performing Arts:Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 7:00pmFriday, November 4, 2022 at 5:00pmSaturday, November 5, 2022 at 7:00pmSunday, November 6, 2022 at 3:00pm
James Chirillo is a vastly under-recognized virtuoso of swing and bop guitar, and was a charter member of the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra directed by Gunther Schuller and David Baker. He is a student of the legendary Tiny Grimes, and was a member of Benny Goodman’s last touring band, performed frequently with Bob Wilbur, Buck Clayton, Kenny Davern, Vic Damone, Marilyn Maye, and more recently with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He is a graduate of North Texas State University, and was a member of the Jazz Knights at West Point, one of the US Armed Forces’ premiere jazz ensembles. He brings his swinging virtuosity to the Jazz Room stage for the first time, joined by the great swing trumpeter Jon-Erik Kelso, clarinetist Evan Christopher, trombonist Harvey Tibbs, and drummer Jerome Jennings.
James Chirillo
Young alto saxophone virtuoso Immanuel Wilkins has quickly established himself as one of the most talked-about, impactful players on the jazz scene today. His debut album Omega was named the best jazz album of 2021 by the New York Times. This was more recently followed by The 7th Hand, also featuring his quartet of pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Kweku Sumby. The dynamic of the group is carried not only by Wilkins playing that emerges from the saxophone traditions, but also to his considerable voice as a composer, paying homage to the black church, baptism and coded slave chants. A native of the Philadelphia area, he attended the Juilliard School, and has worked with Wynton Marsalis, vocalist Gretchen Parlato, Gerald Clayton, vibist Joel Ross, and drummer Johnathan Blake.
Emmanuel Wilkins
William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, New Jersey 07470
973-720-2000
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