Distributed February 17, 2000
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Mark Nickel



Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert


Brown Jazz Band to perform with trombonist Carl Fontana Feb. 26

Renowned trombonist Carl Fontana and the Joe Coccia Trombone Choir will join the Brown University Jazz Band for the 13th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, 2000, in the Salomon Center for Teaching.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Brown University Jazz Band will present the 13th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, 2000, in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.

This year’s concert will feature renowned trombonist Carl Fontana and special guests the Joe Coccia Trombone Choir, featuring George Masso. The concert is open to the public without charge, although space is limited. Free tickets for reserved seating are available at the Orwig Music Hall, Young Orchard Avenue near Hope Street, during business hours beginning Monday, Feb. 21.

Beginning with the fourth Brudner Concert, in 1991, the Brown Jazz Band and its director Matthew McGarrell have shared the stage with such world-renowned artists as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Gary Burton, Jimmy Heath, Bill Watrous, Barrie Lee Hall, Shelly Paul, Slide Hampton, Dave Liebman and James Williams. Each concert features a set by the guest artist or group, a set by the Brown Jazz Band, and a set in which guest artists and student musicians sit in together.

During its set, the Brown Jazz Band will perform the world première of “Segment,” an arrangement of a Charlie Parker tune by Brown senior Andrew Bergmann. The Trombone Choir will perform arrangements by Cranston, R.I., native Joe Coccia, a friend of Fontana and a prolific arranger for the Stan Kenton Orchestra and other groups.

Carl Fontana has set a benchmark for bebop-style trombone performance. His nearly 50-year career as a solo trombonist began in 1951 when he substituted for Urbie Green in the Woody Herman Band. He continued to perform with the Herman Band, then with the Lionel Hampton Band, the Stan Kenton Orchestra and the Kai Winding Sextet during the 1950s before settling in Las Vegas. There he became the top call trombone soloist with such major nightclub acts as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet, Sammy Davis Jr., Wayne Newton and Paul Anka. Fontana and his close friend, trombonist Frank Rosolino, dominated the jazz scene in Las Vegas during its musical heyday – a period when 1,500 musicians were working in the city.

The Brudner Memorial Concert, one of the most popular annual musical events at Brown, honors the memory of Eric Adam Brudner ’84, who distinguished himself as an excellent student and musician at Brown. A pianist and composer, Brudner established several undergraduate jazz ensembles, performed professionally in local jazz clubs, and taught piano to his fellow students. He was awarded the Buxtehude and Arlan Collidge prizes in his junior and senior years respectively.

This will be a busy semester for the Jazz Band, according to McGarrell. The band will travel to Amsterdam in late March to play a series of concerts during spring break. On April 8, it will return to the Salomon Center to perform a benefit concert for the Providence Public Library, which will feature saxophonist James Moody, and on May 6 it will premiere a number of compositions and arrangements by Brown student composers in the second annual Daniel Milano ’94 Memorial Concert. The May 6 concert will feature composer and pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi.

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