BROOKS JAZZ NIGHT, Friday, April 8th @ 7:00 p.m.

BRAVO, will be hosting their annual "Brooks Jazz Night" on Friday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. in the GBMS Auditorium, featuring the Gwendolyn Brooks Jazz Lab Band and Jazz Ensemble with guest artists, Rob Parton and the Rob Parton Big Band. The event will also include featured performances of members of the Rob Parton Big Band with the Brooks Jazz Ensemble as well as a featured performance of Brooks students with the Rob Parton Big Band on the second half of the concert.

Prior to the evening concert, there are free clinics from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Students will be working with trumpeters- Rob Parton and Roger Ingram, saxophonist- Mark Colby, Trombonist- Tom Garling and Drummer- Bob Rummage, made possible through grants from E.K. Blessing, Jupiter Band Instruments, Conn-Selmer, Inc., and Music & Arts Center. The clinics are free and open to the public.

The Rob Parton Big Band (RPBB), a 19 piece jazz ensemble celebrates and represents the best of the big band tradition with a modern and original sound. Through the creative arrangers within the band the vast historical repertoire available today and the plethora of modern writers around the country, the band prides itself on hard swinging virtuoso ensemble playing comprised of Chicago’s finest musicians. Many of the musicians in the band are considered brilliant jazz improvisers and lead groups of their own.

Members of the RPBB have performed, toured and recorded with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Jazz greats such as Maynard Ferguson, Diana Krall, Buddy Rich, Harry Connick, Doc Severinson, Woody Herman, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme’, and can be seen in the movie “Public Enemies.” Parton has performed all over the country as both lead trumpet and trumpet soloist. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Ravinia Festival Orchestra and with the MusicNow ensemble featuring new music of the Chicago Symphony.

In May of 2009, Parton made the decision to break up the long established JAZZTECH Big Band in order to regroup and begin the process of creating a new band with a different focus and personnel. Rob Parton has earned national and international accolades for his seven critically acclaimed compact discs’ on the Sea Breeze Jazz label. The Rob Parton Big Band first CD released 2010!

Tickets for the concert are $5 students 16 yrs./under and $8 adults and may be purchased online at www/brooksbands.blogspot.com or by calling the BRAVO Hotline at 708-524-5621.