The Northwestern State University Jazz Orchestra will perform Monday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. Associate Professor of Music Galindo Rodriguez will conduct the Jazz Orchestra.
The featured guest artist will be Ed Huey of Natchitoches on harmonica. Huey is a teacher and performer of American roots music specializing in early blues guitar and harmonica styles. He is a Northwestern State graduate in vocal music education and a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga master’s graduate in vocal performance. His versatile education also includes studies at Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia, in blues guitar and harmonica.
During his 25-year career as Choral Director at The Baylor School in Chattanooga, Huey was twice honored by the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts as an Outstanding Music Educator. He served as artistic director of the Chattanooga Girls’ Choir and received international recognition when the choir won in Bournemouth. Huey received a Lyndhurst Foundation Grant and gathered field recordings of Mississippi Delta bluesmen.
He was recently honored by the Lt. Governor of Louisiana and the Louisiana Folklife Commission as a Louisiana Tradition Bearer sustaining the distinct culture and contributing to the rich diversity of living traditions. Huey continues to learn, teach harmonica and perform. He plays harmonica and sings with Cane Mutiny, the Snake Doctors blues duo with John Litzenberg, and harmonica with the Hardrick Rivers Revue. Huey was a 2017 inductee into the Louisiana Folklife Center’s Hall of Master Folk Artists.
The Jazz Orchestra will perform “Katherine the Great” by Frank Foster featuring James Armstrong on piano and Kenyon Johnson on tenor saxophone and “Follow the Leader” by Fred Sturm featuring Johnson and Laura Lovell on tenor saxophone, Alex Guillory and Stephen Garrett on alto saxophone, Michael King and Jacob St. Pierre on trombone, Andrew Boyd on vibes and Francisco Sayas on trumpet.
Other selections are “Samba” by Gordon Goodwin featuring Johnson, Michael Dailey on trombone, Ronald Rodriguez on piano, Alex Guillory on alto saxophone, Jack Dyre on baritone saxophone, Lane Clevenger on trumpet and Andrew Boyd on vibes and “Central Park North” by Thad Jones and arranged by Mike Carubia featuring Dyre, Lovell, Nathan Roth on solo trumpet, Elias Caballero on drums, Sabastian Fontalvo on trumpet and Jon Colon on electric bass.
Huey will be featured on “The Groove Merchant” by Jerome Richardson and arranged by Thad Jones with Johnson and Guillory and “Basie’s Blues” by Jim Snidero and arranged by Russell Schmidt.
