Jazz greats will come together on Friday, Feb. 21, for the 32nd annual Jazz Fest at Prairie State College.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble College Auditorium on campus, 202 S. Halsted St. in Chicago Heights.
Trumpeter Orbert Davis will be jamming with his friends who collectively and individually have outstanding reputations within the music community.
Davis is co-founder, conductor and artistic director of Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, a 60-member jazz-symphonic orchestra and a 16-piece chamber ensemble dedicated to multi-genre projects. He won a 2012 Emmy Award for composition and production of an original score for the PBS documentary “DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis.”
Joining him is Valerie Nicholson, Prairie State professor of music and founder of Jazz Fest. The pianist has performed with many ensembles, including the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Chicago Jazz and Blues Festivals.
Bassist Larry Gray is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who has collaborated with many notable jazz artists, including McCoy Tyner, Larry Corryell, Kenny Burrell and Clark Terry. He worked with the Ramsey Lewis Trio for 12 years.
Saxophonist Edward Peterson is associate chair of the Department of Music and coordinator of jazz studies at the University of New Orleans and has performed throughout the world with many greats, including Lionel Hampton and Ellis Marsalis, and has recorded with Kurt Elling, Ron Carter and Clark Terry.
Drummer Ernie Adams has performed and recorded with Ramsey Lewis, Al Di Meola, Arturo Sandoval, Dianne Reeves and Stanley Turrentine. He has been a Ravinia Jazz Mentor since 1995 tutoring young drummers and percussionists.
Ruben Alvarez is a Chicago-based percussionist who has performed on movie soundtracks, radio and television jingles and recordings with a variety of musical artists of various styles. He is a faculty member at PSC where he directs the Latin Jazz Ensemble, as well as at Roosevelt University and Columbia College Chicago.
Tickets to the concert are $15 for general admission and $10 for students/seniors. Or, anyone can purchase a $30 ticket, which includes the pre-concert VIP reception with the artists that begins at 6 p.m., as well as a concert ticket.
Tickets are available online at classy.org.