The Department of Music will host the 2018 49er Jazz Festival for middle and high school jazz ensembles on Saturday, February 10. Guest adjudicators are pianist Lovell Bradford and saxophonist Tim Gordon; the clinicians are Dr. Will Campbell, director of the UNC Charlotte Jazz Studies program, and Wally West, professor of jazz studies at Gardner-Webb University. Ten regional schools will participate. The event begins at 9:30 am. At 3:45 pm, the UNC Charlotte Jazz Ensemble will perform.
Adjudicators:
Lovell Bradford is a Charlotte-based jazz pianist who grew up in the Chicago area. He studied at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and began his professional career in the Columbus, Ohio, jazz scene. He has performed with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Slide Hampton, Wes Anderson, and many others. Bradford is a regular performer in the Jazz Room Series in Charlotte, an initiative sponsored by the Jazz Arts Initiative, an educational program in which he also teaches young jazz musicians. His arrangements for and performances with the Lumzy Family in Charlotte are recorded in their CDs, including Satisfied and Live in Charlotte. The Lovell Bradford Trio can be heard frequently on the jazz scene in Charlotte. In addition, Bradford is Minister of Music at Charlotte's Mt. Carmel Baptist Church and teaches jazz piano at Davidson College.
Tim Gordon is Director of Jazz Combo and Saxophone Quartet at Davidson College. He graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts (now UNC School of the Arts) in 1980 and returned there in 1990 to complete a master's degree in saxophone performance. An established freelance recording artist, he has also spent a great deal of time as a teacher and touring musician, working with musicians such as The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Count Basie Orchestra, Roger Watters, The Spinners, Aretha Franklin, Frankie Valli, and Bonnie Bramlett. As a guest clinician at many jazz festivals in Alaska, Texas, Indiana, North and South Carolina, and Florida, Gordon is in high demand and has also adjudicated in North and South Carolina All-State, District, and Governor School programs. Gordon has worked with major symphonies in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Salisbury, Greenville, Spartanburg, Augusta, and the North Carolina Symphony. In addition to his position at Davidson, he has taught at UNC Charlotte, Winthrop University, and Central Piedmont Community College.