Aardvark Jazz Orchestra Celebrates Mary Lou Williams at Eastern CT State University, Willimantic CT

March 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Boston’s critically acclaimed Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, (Mark Harvey music director) continues its historic 38th season with a concert honoring jazz great Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), an African American who rose to prominence in the pre-Civil Rights/pre-Women’s Rights era.  The concert is Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 7:00 pm, at Eastern Connecticut State University, Shafer Auditorium, 83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT 06226.  Tickets are $10. For information and reservations call 860-465-0036.

The March 16 will showcase Mary Lou Williams’ creative genius across many genres, including the Swing-era classic Roll ‘Em (made famous by Benny Goodman), the rarely-heard Scorpio movement from Zodiac Suite, and Gloria from Mary Lou’s Mass.  Eastern’s Jazz Ensemble led by Joseph Tomanelli will join Aardvark in Roll ‘Em, and Eastern's Chorale (David Belles, director) will perform with the band in Gloria. Mark Harvey will present his own tributes to Williams, including Blues for Mary Lou and the premiere of Soul on Soul, a new piece written for the occasion.

Mary Lou Williams is one of our great American composers, an African American who rose to prominence in the pre-Civil Rights/pre-Women's Rights era when female big band composer-arrangers were rare.  Called The First Lady of Jazz, Williams wrote for and performed with Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy (one of the leading Territory Bands of the 1920s and 30s) and she composed for illustrious orchestras including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Dizzy Gillespie. She gave the premiere of her masterwork, the twelve-movement Zodiac Suite, in Carnegie Hall.  Following a spiritual crisis in the 1950s, Williams became a Roman Catholic in 1957 and began to compose sacred music, including Black Christ of the Andes, in honor of St. Martin de Porres, and three complete masses, the most famous being Mary Lou's Mass, performed at the Vatican and later staged as Music for Peace by the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.

With worldwide distribution of 10 CDs and wide-ranging performances in festivals, clubs, concert halls, colleges and universities, The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra has been a major force in the international jazz scene for almost 40 years.  Winner of the 2000 Independent Music Awards, the band has premiered more than 120 works for jazz orchestra and has garnered critical acclaim around the globe.  Of the band’s 10 CDs, five are on Leo Records, one of the world’s leading adventurous music labels.  The latest disc, American Agonistes (Leo Records) has been called a”stunning hour of music that is in turn beautiful, poignant and raucous” (Billboard.com). Guest artists who've appeared with Aardvark include Sheila Jordan, Jaki Byard, Jimmy Giuffre, Geri Allen, Jay Clayton, Walter Thompson, Rajesh Mehta, Paul Lovens, and Harvie Swartz.

Trumpeter-composer Mark Harvey, Aardvark’s founder and music director, has performed in the U.S., Mexico and Europe; has recorded with George Russell (Blue Note) and Baird Hersey (Arista/Novus) and has appeared with Gil Evans, Claudio Roditi, Howard McGhee, Sam Rivers, Joe Carroll, Kenny Dorham and others.  He is a Music Lecturer at MIT and a winner of awards/commissions from ASCAP, the National Endowment, Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program, and the 15th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, among others.  Commissions have featured such notables as Joe Lovano, Steve Turre, Herb Pomeroy and Ran Blake.

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