ISU Jazz Festival to Feature Trumpeter Byron Stripling

Date: 4/2/07
Contact: Marc Lebovitz

Trumpet virtuoso Byron Stripling, who has been a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra and who currently is artistic director and conductor of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, will be the guest artist at the 11th annual Illinois State University Jazz Festival on April 13 and 14.

Sponsored by the School of Music, the jazz festival and Stripling’s concert will take place in the Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. The festival will include a competition for junior high school and high school jazz big bands and combos, several master classes and open rehearsals including some with Stripling, and the festival-ending concert with Stripling. The concert will also feature the competition’s “grand champion” band opening for the ISU Jazz Ensemble.

All events are free and open to the public except the 8 p.m. concert Saturday, April 14, for which tickets are $7 to $10. Ticket information is available at the Center for the Performing Arts box office at (309) 438-2535. The box office is open weekdays from noon to 5 p.m.

Stripling’s musical talent, along with his smile and charm, has thrilled audiences internationally. A trumpeter and singer who played with Clark Terry, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman and Count Basie in the 1980s, Stripling performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1989. In the 1990s, he played in pit orchestras for Broadway shows and also worked with the American Jazz Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the GRP All-Star Big Band, the pianist David Matthews’s Manhattan Jazz Orchestra and Mitchell's All-Star Orchestra.

He has performed under the batons of both current Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart and former conductor John Williams. Since his Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, Stripling has performed throughout the country, soloing with the National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Utah Symphony and The American Jazz Philharmonic. He has been a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and performs at jazz festivals throughout the world.

His trumpet was heard in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown” and “Everyone Says I Love You,” as well as on the worldwide telecast of The Grammy Awards. Millions have heard his trumpet and voice on television commercials, TV theme songs including “20/20” and CNN. He had a cameo acting performance in the television move, “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.”

Stripling was educated at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Mich.

The tentative performing schedule, beginning Friday, April 13, is:

12:35 PM East Peoria Community High School Big Band East Peoria, IL

1:00 North Ridge Middle School Big Band Danville, IL

1:25 Danville High School Big Band Danville, IL

1:50 Percy Julian Middle School Big Band Oak Park, IL

2:15 Southview Middle School Big Band Danville, IL

2:40 Normal Community High School Big Band II Normal, IL

3:05-3:55 Byron Stripling Masterclass

4:05 Stockton High School Combo Stockton, IL

4:30 Kingsley Jr. High Big Band Normal, IL

4:55 Normal Community High School Big Band I Normal, IL

5:20 Mattoon High School Big Band Mattoon, IL

5:45 Stockton High School Big Band Stockton, IL

6:30 Open Rehearsal: ISU Jazz Ensemble III

7:00 Open Rehearsal: ISU Jazz Ensemble II

7:30 Open Rehearsal: ISU Jazz Ensemble I with Byron Stripling

Saturday, April 14, 2007

8:00AM Parkside Jr. High Normal, IL

8:25 Bloomington Jr. High Bloomington, IL

8:50 Edison Middle School Big Band II Champaign, IL

9:15 Pekin High School Big Band Pekin, IL

9:40 Addison Trail High School Big Band II Addison, IL

10:05 El Paso/Gridley High School Big Band El Paso, IL

10:30 Peoria High School Big Band Peoria, IL

10:55 Addison Trail High School Big Band I Addison, IL

11:20 Paxton/Buckley/Loda Jr. High I Paxton, IL

11:45-12:35 Byron Stripling Masterclass CPA

12:35 Illinois State Jazz Ensemble II Normal, IL

1:00 Paxton/Buckley/Loda Jr. High II Paxton, IL

1:25 Zionsville Middle School Big Band Zionsville, IN

1:50 Lisle High School Big Band Lisle, IL

2:15 Pulaski High School Big Band III Pulaski, WI

2:40 Pulaski High School Big Band II Pulaski, WI

3:05 Pulaski High School Big Band I Pulaski, WI

3:30 Illinois State Jazz Ensemble III Normal, IL

3:55 Paxton/Buckley/Loda High School Big Band II Paxton, IL

4:20 Edgewood High School Big Band II Ellettsville, IN

4:45 Northrop High School Big Band Ft Wayne, IN

5:10 Edison Middle School Big Band I Champaign, IL

5:35 Edgewood High School Big Band I Ellettsville, IN

6:00 ISU Jazz Ensemble I

6:35 Awards Presentations (CPA)

7:00 Clear concert hall

7:30 DOORS OPEN

8:00 CONCERT: 1) Grand Champion of Competition

2) Byron Stripling w/ ISU Jazz Ensemble I