News

Lee University’s Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Alan Wyatt, will present a concert on Monday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Dixon Center. The concert will feature guest trumpet performer Vincent DiMartino.

“We are excited to feature trumpet professor and performing artist DiMartino as our guest soloist,” said Wyatt. “We will perform several arrangements of his choosing, one of which, titled ‘Erica,’ was commissioned by DiMartino in honor of his daughter, Erica.”

Graduating from The Eastman School of Music in 1970, DiMartino taught at the University of Kentucky until 1993. At that time, he began a new appointment as distinguished artist-in-residence at Centre College. There, he taught jazz history and trumpet, brass, and jazz ensembles, retiring from teaching in 2012.

DiMartino has served twice as president and vice president of The International Trumpet Guild as well as a member of its board of directors for two terms. He is the recipient of The Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2007-2008 for the State of Kentucky and is a Pickett-Blackburn Performing Artist.

Other featured selections will include works by Billy Strayhorn, Wayne Shorter, and Jean “Toots” Thielemans, among others.

Lee’s Jazz Ensemble performs traditional and recent literature for the traditional Big Band. The ensemble includes rhythm section instruments, saxophones, trumpets, and trombones. A frequent award winner at national festivals, it performs for campus, school, and civic events.

Wyatt has been teaching and mentoring students at Lee since 1990. He teaches courses such as applied saxophone, commercial music theory and history, and jazz improvisation. Wyatt has served as a performer for area jazz festivals and as a clinician, most recently for the Western North Carolina School Band and Orchestra Association as a clinician for their top jazz clinic band.

The concert is free, non-ticketed, and open to the public.

For more information, contact Lee’s School of Music at (423) 614-8240 or email [email protected].