The Northern Michigan University Jazz Festival will include two public concerts on Thursday and Friday, March 24-25. This year's featured artist is Mike Tomaro, director of jazz studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Thursday night's free opening concert will celebrate 60 years of the Benny Golson and Art Farmer classic 1960 album, Meet the Jazztet. The NMU Jazz Festival Faculty Combo will perform compositions from the album, including Killer Joe and I Remember Clifford, at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Recital Hall.
Tomaro will perform with the NMU Jazz Band and Combo in the closing concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Reynolds Recital Hall. Tickets are available at nmu.edu/tickets and cost $12 for all general public adults. Admission is free for students 18 and under and free for NMU students with ID.
In addition to his educator role, Tomaro is a saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. He is a former member of the Army Blues jazz ensemble and he has four nationally released recordings under his own name that showcase his talents as both a player and a writer.
Tomaro will also lead an educational clinic for participating high school and middle school bands from the region at 1 p.m. Friday in Reynolds Recital Hall. Other clinics and performances with clinician feedback are scheduled throughout the festival.
NMU has presented numerous jazz clinics and concerts over the last 50 years, but the current festival format began in 1998, when the student organization NMU Friends of Jazz invited the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry to perform a concert with the NMU Jazz Band. Several local high school bands were invited to participate in clinics in conjunction with this event, and the positive responses from participants and audience members suggested that an annual jazz festival would be well-received.