The acclaimed jazz trumpeter Terell Stafford and the Oswego Jazz Project will perform at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27, in the Sheldon Hall ballroom to wrap up this season of SUNY Oswego’s Ke-Nekt Chamber Music Series.
The New York City-based musician has been hailed as “one of the great players of our time, a fabulous trumpet player” by piano legend McCoy Tyner. Stafford is recognized as an incredibly gifted and versatile player who combines a deep love of melody with his own brand of spirited and adventurous lyricism. Stafford’s expressive and well-defined musical talent allows him to dance in and around the rich trumpet tradition of his predecessors while making his own inroads.
For the Oswego show, songs will include some compositions written by music department faculty members ("Tara’s Theme" by Robert Auler, "In Brass Flugelmop" by Trevor Jorgensen and "Blues for JK" by Eric Schmitz), several by Lee Morgan ("Hocus Pocus," "Mr. Kenyatta," "Petty Larceny," "Speed Ball" and "Yes I Can, No You Can’t") and selections by Billy Strayhorn ("Day Dream") and Harry Warren ("September in the Rain").
Since the mid-1990s, Stafford has performed with groups such as the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Benny Golson’s Sextet, Kenny Barron Quintet, Frank Wess Quintet, Jimmy Heath Quintet and Big Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra and McCoy Tyner’s Sextet.
Stafford, with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, performed on Diana Krall’s Grammy-nominated “From this Moment On” (2006). He is a member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which earned a Grammy in 2009 for Best Large Ensemble with “Live at the Village Vanguard.” Stafford can be heard on over 130 albums including his own “BrotherLee Love, Celebrating Lee Morgan,” which received an NAACP Image Award nomination. His most recent album, “Family Feeling,” is a BCM&D release.
Stafford is the director of jazz studies and chair of instrumental studies at Temple University; founder and bandleader of the Terell Stafford Quintet; and managing and artistic director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia. Stafford is renowned in the jazz world as an educator, performer and leader and has received countless award nominations and accolades.
He received a bachelor of science in music education from the University of Maryland and a master’s of music from Rutgers University.
The Oswego Jazz Project was founded by music faculty members Robert Auler on piano, Eric Schmitz on drums and Trevor Jorgensen on saxophone. Kyle Vock will serve as guest bassist for this performance. OJP serves as musical ambassadors for SUNY Oswego by educating as well as entertaining. The group has released two albums: the self-titled "Oswego Jazz Project" in 2007, followed by "And the Time is Now" the following year.
The SUNY Oswego Music Department sponsors this performance and the Ke-Nekt Chamber Music Series, with support from Artswego.
Tickets for his April 27 show are available at tickets.oswego.edu, free for SUNY Oswego students; $5 for other students and youths; $12 for faculty, staff and alumni; and $15 for the general public.
For more information on this performance and upcoming arts events, visit oswego.edu/artswego.