Tribute to the Big Bands at Zoellner Sept. 22

Lehigh University's Music Department presents its annual jazz performance dedicated to Big Band music with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 8 pm at Baker Hall at Zoellner Arts Center. WDIY is the Lehigh University Music Department media sponsor.

In Tribute to the Big Bands, the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra salutes greats like Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman. The orchestra is dedicated to the re-creation of classics, as well as the creation of new jazz, funk and Latin music. Composed of New York City jazz and studio musicians, the orchestra performs at Zoellner twice a season under the guidance of director Bill Warfield.

When: 8 p.m. Sept. 22

Where: Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University

How much: Tickets range from $5 to $18. 

A dynamic and innovative composer, clinician and educator, Bill Warfield has energized audiences, performers and writers for more than two decades.

Warfield has previous experience with big band covers, as he collaborated with arranger Russ Anixter to record the Fusion Ensemble, where he played big band charts based on Led Zeppelin’s music.

Warfield has performed with many well-known jazz and commercial artists including Ornette Coleman, The American Jazz Orchestra directed by John Lewis, Mel Lewis, Paul Anka, Mel Torme, Randy Brecker, David Sanborn, Sonny Stitt, Sheila Jordan and Lester Bowie, among others.

He was an NBC staff musician for the 1995 VIDA awards and has been an orchestrator for Eddie Palmieri and Lester Bowie. He was the director of the jazz ensemble at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at the City University of New York, Director of Jazz Studies at the Dalton School in New York and Assistant Professor of Jazz Trumpet at the University of North Florida.  

In addition to his career as an international performer, recording artist, band leader and producer, Warfield is currently an associate professor in the Lehigh University Music Department and active in the International Association of Schools of Jazz.

He is the recipient of the first Frank Hook Assistant Professorship Award (2000), and the Franz/Class of 1968 Award. In 1997, he founded The Lehigh Valley Jazz Repertory Orchestra, a non-profit organization dedicated to the re-creation of classic jazz performances as well as the creation of new works for jazz orchestra. 

For tickets, call 610-758-2787 (7LU-ARTS), visit Zoellner Ticket Services, Wednesday through Friday from 12-5 p.m., Tuesday 12-6 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-1 p.m., and 90 minutes before curtain, or order online at www.zoellnerartscenter.org.  Senior, student, group and LVAIC discounts are available.