John Medesky to headline 14th Brudner Memorial Concert March 3

Organist John Medesky of Medesky, Martin and Wood will perform with the Brown Jazz Band when the Music Department presents its 14^th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert on Saturday, March 3, 2001, at 8 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jazz organist John Medesky, of Medesky, Martin and Wood, will be the featured guest when the Brown Jazz Band presents the 14^th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert on Saturday, March 3, 2001, at 8 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.

The concert, one of the most popular annual musical events at Brown, is free and open to the public. Under the direction of Matthew McGarrell, the Brown Jazz Band will open the evening’s program with Miles Davis’s “Tutu” and a performance of “Darn That Dream” by soloist Courtney Naliboff. The band will be joined by Medesky on Tom Kubis’s “Exactly Like That.”

For the second half of the program, Medesky will perform with guest band UM (trombonist Hall Crook, bassist Dave Zinno, percussionist Bob Gullotti and guitarist Dick Peckham), offering an innovative mix of jazz, hip-hop and rhythm and blues. Medesky, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, has played jazz since childhood and has been part of the renowned Modesky, Martin and Wood instrumental trio since 1991. Their recordings include Notes from the Underground, Friday Afternoon in the Universe, Tonic and The Dropper.

Since the fourth annual Brudner concert in 1991, McGarrell and the Brown Jazz Band have shared the stage with well known guest jazz musicians such as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Gary Burton, Jimmy Heath, Bill Watrous, Barrie Lee Heath, Shelly Paul, Slide Hampton, James Williams, Dave Liebman and Carl Fontana. In addition to this month’s performance with Medesky, the band will play with legendary bassist Rufus Reid in April and perform several concerts in Madrid, Spain.

The namesake of this concert series, Eric Adam Brudner, graduated in 1984 after distinguishing himself as one of the University’s finest music students in recent memory, according to McGarrell. A talented pianist and composer, he began playing jazz professionally in local clubs while still an undergraduate and taught piano to dozens of fellow students. He was awarded the Buxtehude and Arlen Coolidge Prizes in music during his junior and senior years, respectively.

“Eric was a favorite of faculty and students alike. He brightened our classes and our lives with his effervescent good humor and quick wit, and he touched our hearts with his music,” said McGarrell. “These annual concerts are dedicated to his memory in celebration of his talent and aspirations.”

For more information or to reserve tickets, call (401) 863-3234.