Jazz Festival will feature drummer Dennis Mackrel

The Eleventh Annual Bradley University Jazz Festival will take place on Tuesday, February 24, at the Michel Student Center with fifteen high school bands and guest artist Dennis Mackrel, and clinicians Tom Marko, Perry Rask, and Randy Reyman featured. 

The high school bands will perform throughout the day, starting at 8 a.m. Those performances are free and open to the public. 

The evening concert, featuring the Bradley Groove Project and Jazz Ensemble with Dennis Mackrel, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Michel Student Center ballroom. Tickets for the evening concert are $10 for adults, and $5 for students. For more information, call the Bradley Cultural Events Box Office at 309-677-2650.

Dennis Mackrel was born in 1962. A child prodigy, he began playing the drums when he was two; and became a professional musician at the age of ten when he performed in the Anchorage Community Theatre's production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Dennis traveled extensively and worked alongside Count Basie until his death in 1984. He continued with the orchestra under the direction of interim leader Eric Dixon followed by Thad Jones. In 1985 under Mr. Jones' leadership, the Count Basie Orchestra recorded one of Dennis' compositions entitled "And That's That." In addition to being a seasoned musician, Dennis is also a highly respected composer/arranger whose commissioned works have been recorded by the United States Military Academy at West Point's Jazz Knights Big Band, The Temple University Jazz Ensemble, The Columbus Jazz Orchestra and, most notably, the McCoy Tyner Big Band whose Grammy winning CDs "The Turning Point" and "Journey" included four of Dennis' arrangements. As an educator, he continues to conduct master classes, seminars, and workshops throughout Europe, Asia, Canada and the USA. From 2002-2003, Dennis served as a guest professor at the Royal Conservatory in Aarhus, Denmark and from 2012-2013, he was the Visiting Artist in Jazz Studies at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He is a faculty member of the Skidmore Jazz Institute in Saratoga Springs, New York as well as the Birch Creek Summer Jazz Camp in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. 

The Bradley Jazz Ensemble, under the leadership of Dr. Todd Kelly, is the most visible ensemble in the Bradley Jazz program. They have performed at the Illinois Collegiate Jazz Festival and the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival, as well as three European tours. They have brought many world renowned jazz clinicians and soloists to the Bradley campus, including Mike Lee, The Mike Vax Big Band, Matt Wilson, Rachael Lee, Allen Vizzutti, Ron Jones, Tom Garling, Byron Stripling, Chris Vadala, the Jeff Hamilton Trio, Wayne Bergeron, Denis DiBlasio, Kathy Kosins, Michael Davis, Wycliffe Gordon, Mark Colby, and Bobby Shew. In the summer of 2012, the band traveled to Italy, where they performed in Siena, Cinque Terre, Vertibo, and Rome.

For more information, contact Dr. Todd Kelly at 309-677-2597.