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CNY Jazz Orchetra Series Opens with Dennis Mackrel

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On Saturday, October 25th at 8pm, the CNY Jazz Arts Foundation will officially open their 13th season with a concert by the CNY Jazz Orchestra with special guest artist Dennis Mackrel, famed drummer with the Count Basie Orchestra and McCoy Tyner Big Band, an internationally acclaimed musician, composer and educator. The event will take place in the Carrier Theater, 411 Montgomery Street in Syracuse. Tickets are on sale now at the OnCenter Box Office at $19.50, $24.50 and $27.50, with a $5 donor/student discount (315-435-2121). This CNYJO Concert Series event will be preceded by an educational clinic with Mr. Mackrel in the theater, to be held at 3pm that day. The clinic is free and open to the public.

Dennis Mackrel is a musician about whom the great George Shearing has said, If I ever have a record date that calls for a drummer and Dennis is not available, Ill postpone the date. Hes that good. A child prodigy at the age of three and a professional musician by the age of ten, he joined the Count Basie Orchestra at twenty three, recommended by the legendary vocalist Joe Williams. He was tapped by bandleader and fellow drummer Mel Lewis as his successor in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. A winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Composers Grant, Mackrel is one of the most highly talented and respected musicians, composers and arrangers on the international scene today. His work has been recorded and performed on Grammy-winning recordings by the Count Basie Orchestra, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band and the McCoy Tyner Big Band, among countless others.

This is the first time weve had a drummer as a guest artist in the twelve years since the band was founded, according to Larry Luttinger, Executive Director of the organization and drummer for the sixteen piece orchestra. It will be quite an experience for me to shift to vibes and hand percussion when Dennis takes the reins. Just being on stage with him in the drum chair will be an honor, an exhilarating experience. Mackrel will bring self-penned arrangements that have been recorded by the Basie and Tyner bands.

Mr. Mackrels educational clinic will take place at 3pm in the theater on the day of the concert. Assisting Dennis will be select student musicians from area High Schools. It is free and open to the public.

The prize-winning CNY Jazz Orchestra is now in its thirteenth year of programming in public and in schools throughout upstate New York. Led by Music Director Bret Zvacek, it has been named one of the top twelve acts of the prestigious Rochester International Jazz Festival. Its debut recording, Then, Now & Again has received great critical acclaim worldwide, rising to #56 on the Jazzweek charts and receiving airplay on all continents. Its parent organization is the CNY Jazz Arts Foundation, established in 1996, now the primary year-round provider of jazz presentations in public and in schools for the entire Upstate New York region.

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