Ted Nash conducts the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in "The Music of Andrew Hill" on Thursday, October 16 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater

Composer, educator, and saxophonist Ted Nash conducts the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in the music of acclaimed pianist and composer Andrew Hill on Thursday, October 16 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater to open the Jazz Orchestra’s season. Andrew Hill, who passed away in 2007, was honored posthumously as a 2008 NEA Jazz Master, held a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jazz Foundation of America, was a board advisor to the Jazz Composers Collective, and one of the first to receive the Doris Duke Foundation award for jazz composers. In 2003, he received Denmark’s Jazzpar Prize, the largest annual jazz award given to an active performer. He also was named Jazz Composer of the Year four times by the Jazz Journalists Association.

FREE tickets are available October 2 at the Juilliard Box Office located after September 25 in Juilliard’s newly-renovated lobby at 155 West 65th Street. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM – 6 PM. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.

 The first half of the program features arrangements of Mr. Hill’s compositions by Ron Horton: Divine Revelation, ML, No Doubt, Venture Inward, Dusk, and Laverne. The second half of the program features works arranged by Mr. Hill and Mr. Horton: Bellezza #3, 5/4 Piece, Faded Beauty #1, Faded Beauty #2, A Beautiful Day, and New Pinocchio. Many of these compositions may be heard on Mr. Hill’s 2002 release, A Beautiful Day.

Members of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra are: Will Reardon-Anderson (alto sax, flute), Jordan Pettay (alto sax, flute, clarinets), Peter Reardon-Anderson (tenor sax, clarinets), Jeremy Viner (tenor sax, clarinets) and Adison Evans (baritone sax, bass clarinet); Melvin Fowler, Michael Cottone, Randall Haywood, and Chris Burbank on trumpets; James Burton, Melissa Jean, Robert Edwards, and Javier Nero on trombones; and Joshua Richman, piano, Kenneth Oshodi, guitar, Paul Sikivie on bass, and Bryan Carter on drums.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Andrew Hill took up the piano at the age of thirteen and was encouraged by Earl Hines. He was referred by jazz composer Bill Russo to Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied informally until 1952. While a teenager, he performed in rhythm and blues bands and with touring jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.

Mr. Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1954, but his reputation was made by his Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1970. He rarely worked as a sideman after the 1960s, preferring to play his own compositions. This may have limited his public exposure. Mr. Hill obtained a doctorate in music from Colgate University and served as the University’s composer-in-residence from 1970-1972.

Andrew Hill created a unique idiom that utilized chromatic, modal, and occasionally “free” improvisation. Although usually categorized as “avant-garde,” Hill’s music bears little resemblance to the free atonality and extended improvisations of Cecil Taylor and others. Hill’s compositions sometimes have a contemplative mood; he was known for the rhythmic and harmonic complexity of his performances and compositions.

Mr. Hill’s CD Dusk was selected as the best album of 2001 by both DownBeat and JazzTimes. As a consequence of his renewed prominence, Blue Note released Time Lines on February 21, 2006. Mr. Hill’s final performance was on March 29, 2007 at Trinity Church in New York City. In May 2007, he became the first person to receive a posthumous honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music.

Arranger and trumpeter Ron Horton has been an integral part of New York’s jazz scene, and he stands out both as an exemplary instrumentalist and as a highly progressive composer and arranger. Whether called upon as a sideman or as a leader of one of his own ensembles, he shows that he is committed to further expanding the existing perimeters of jazz. He has had long musical associations with saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and pianist Andrew Hill. He was a member of Mr. Hill’s sextet from 1998 until 2003 and appears on the group’s critically-acclaimed CD, Dusk (Palmetto 2000). He was also musical director and co-arranger for Mr. Hill’s big band and is featured on the CD, A Beautiful Day (Palmetto 2002). Mr. Horton has had an integral collaboration with New York’s Jazz Composers Collective, going back to its inception in 1992 and appears on several CDs by the other members of the group, such as Ben Allison and Michael Blake, as well as the Collective’s Herbie Nichols Project.

Conductor Ted Nash has been intricately involved, for the last decade, with Jazz at Lincoln Center, as a composer, educator, and as a member of the Wynton Marsalis-led orchestra. He is featured on several Jazz at Lincoln Center recordings. Mr. Nash leads his own group and has been active with the Jazz Composers Collective. His latest CD, The Mancini Project on Palmetto Records was released in August 2008. A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Nash began his musical studies at an early age and was encouraged by his father, trombonist Dick Nash, and his uncle, reedman Ted Nash – both well-known studio and jazz musicians. At age 18, he moved to New York and worked with the Gerry Mulligan Big Band and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. Mr. Nash was recently appointed Juilliard Jazz conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Program.        
 
JUILLIARD JAZZ CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

Thursday, October 16 at 8 PM •Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Ted Nash Conducts the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra
The Music of Andrew Hill
selections premiered at the Jazz Composers Collective in 2000 and the
2002 release, A Beautiful Day
FREE tickets available 10/2 at the Juilliard Box Office

Monday, November 3 at 8 PM •Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Juilliard Jazz Ensembles
The Juilliard Jazz Institute musicians cut loose
FREE tickets available 10/20 at the Juilliard Box Office

Tuesday, December 9 at 8 PM •Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Juilliard Jazz Ensembles
The musicians of Juilliard Jazz break out their innovative new compositions and refreshing approach to jazz standards when they perform in smaller ensembles and an intimate performance hall.
FREE tickets available 11/25 at the Juilliard Box Office

Tuesday, January 20 at 8 PM •Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Juilliard Jazz Ensembles
The musicians of Juilliard Jazz break out their innovative new compositions and refreshing approach to jazz standards when they perform in smaller ensembles and an intimate performance hall.
FREE tickets available 1/6 at the Juilliard Box Office

Monday, February 2 at 8 PM •Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Terence Blanchard conduct Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in
The Music of Terence Blanchard
FREE tickets available 1/9 at the Juilliard Box Office

Tuesday, February 24 at 8 PM •Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Juilliard Jazz Ensembles
The Music of Woody Shaw
FREE tickets available 2/10 at the Juilliard Box Office

Monday, March 23 at 8 PM •Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Juilliard Jazz Ensembles from the Juilliard Jazz Institute
FREE tickets available 3/9 at the Juilliard Box Office

Thursday, April 16 at 8 PM •Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center Plaza, 65th St NY 10023
Benny Golson conducts the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra
LIMITED FREE tickets available 4/2 at the Juilliard Box Office

Monday, April 27 at 8 PM•Paul Hall, 155 West 65th Street, NY 10023
Juilliard Jazz Ensembles
Jazz Emergent II
The musicians of Juilliard Jazz break out their innovative new compositions
FREE tickets available 4/13 at the Juilliard Box Office