Prairie State College will present its 35th annual Jazz Fest on Friday, Feb. 16, in the Barnes & Noble College Auditorium on campus, 202 S. Halsted St. in Chicago Heights.
The show will open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Performers are Orbert Davis on trumpet, Darius Hampton on saxophone, Valerie Nicholson on piano, Larry Gray on bass and Ernie Adams on drums.
Davis is a composer/educator and Emmy Award winner. He co-founded and is conductor and artistic director of Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, a 55+ piece symphonic jazz orchestra dedicated to bringing together audiences of diverse backgrounds through multi-genre projects.
Hampton is a Northwestern University lecturer and is the managing director of education and special projects at the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
Nicholson is a professor and the coordinator of music at Prairie State College where she has been a faculty member since 1986. Among the many accolades Nicholson has received is the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s inaugural “Jazz Alive” Educator’s Award presented in 2019. She is the founder and coordinator of the annual Prairie State College Jazz Festival.
Gray is a bassist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has enjoyed a distinguished career spanning four decades, in which he has collaborated with a long list of many of the most notable of jazz artists. As a composer and leader, he has five solo recordings to his credit.
Adams is a drum/jazz professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, instructor for the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Ravinia Jazz mentor, instructor for the Jazz Institute of Chicago and jazz instructor at the Music Institute of Chicago. He has toured with outstanding musicians, including Al Jarreau, Kurt Elling, Patricia Barber and Dianne Reeves.
On Thursday, Feb. 15, students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School have been invited to perform before a panel of music technicians.
For more information, call PSC at 708-709-3742.