Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra Master jazz trombonist & arranger/composer leads all-star big band in their BLU debut, featuring special guests Ellen Rowe (piano) and Velvet Brown (tuba)!

Join us for an exciting night of big band jazz, fronted by one of the leading jazz arranger/composers of his generation, Paul Ferguson! Ferguson has recorded 6 albums with his Jazz Orchestra, the latest being “Encounter,” released in 2014. Joining Paul on stage will be some of the most talented jazz instrumentalists in the Midwest, including special guests Ellen Rowe (piano) and Velvet Brown (tuba).
 
Don’t miss your opportunity to hear some of the finest big band writing and playing out there. Get your tickets now for this exciting night of big band jazz right here at BLU!
 
Featuring some of Ohio’s finest jazz musicians, including Jim Rupp, Dave Morgan, Jack Schantz, Joe Miller, Dave Banks, Scott Garlock, Mark Mauldin, Paul Hugnerford, John Klayman, George Shernit, & more!
 

About Paul Ferguson

Paul Ferguson has been director of Jazz Studies at Case Western Reserve University since 1988. A graduate of the University of Akron and the Eastman School of Music, Paul has travelled with the Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller bands as lead trombonist and arranger and currently fills those functions with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra.
 
Paul was principal trombonist of the Canton Symphony from 1989-98 and at various times has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Apollos’s Fire, the Cleveland Chamber Brass, the New Hampshire Festival Orchestra and various groups across Northeast Ohio.
 
In 1995, Paul was the recipient of the Gil Evans Fellowship in Jazz Composition. He has two recordings–”Blue Highways”, recorded with the RIAS Big Band of Berlin, and “Friends”, recorded with his own orchestra.
 

About Ellen Rowe

Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Professor and Chair of the Dept. of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. Ms. Rowe has performed throughout the U.S., as well as touring in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland and Australia. Her CDs “Sylvan Way”, “Denali Pass”, “Wishing Well” and “Courage Music” (2014) are available on PKO records and at CdBaby.com. The Ellen Rowe Quintet was featured at the 2012 Jazz Education Network Conference and at the San Jose and Detroit Jazz Festivals.
 
Ms. Rowe’s compositions and arrangements are published by Sierra Music Publishing and have been performed and recorded by ensembles including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, U.S. Navy Commodores, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, DIVA and the Perth Jazz Orchestra. She has received commissions from the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra in addition to junior high and high school groups throughout the country. In the last several years she has been Artist-in-Residence at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Eastman School of Music, University of Wyoming and the Pittsford School District in Pittsford, NY. She has also been selected to conduct All-State jazz ensembles throughout the country, including the MENC All-Eastern and All-Northwest groups.
 

About Velvet Brown

Velvet Brown is professor of tuba and euphonium at Penn State. Prior to joining the faculty in 2003, she taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and Ball State University (Indiana), and served as an associate director of University Bands at Boston University.
 
She enjoys a professional career as an international soloist, chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor, and orchestral player. She has made regular appearances throughout Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, France, England, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the United States. Many of her successful students have won prestigious playing and teaching positions and are prize winners at various regional, national, and international competitions.
 
Brown is currently the principal tubist of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra. She has served as principal tuba with the River City Brass band, guest principal with the Lahti Philharmonic in Finland, and as substitute or additional tubist with the Detroit Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. In 2004, Brown joined Howard Johnson’s “Gravity” Tuba Jazz Ensemble as lead tuba. She has also garnered high praise as a founding and current member of Stiletto Brass Quintet, Monarch Brass Quintet and Brass Ensemble, the Junction Tuba Quartet, and the Pennsylvania Brassworks. Moreover, she is also a founding board member of the International Women’s Brass Conference.
 
She has released four solo CDs, and has collaborated on several other recordings as a soloist and ensemble member, including the April 2013 release of Stiletto Brass Quintet with Doc Severinsen. Also notable is her interpretation of John Williams’ Tuba Concerto on Albany Records. Brown is a Besson/Buffet/Melton/Meinl Weston Performing Artist, performing on the MW 2250 and 2182 F tubas, and the MW 2000 C tuba. She is also a performing artist for Denis Wick mouthpieces and mutes.

$20