Contact: Robbie S. Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Acclaimed trombone jazz extraordinaire Wycliffe Gordon will be the featured artist Nov. 30 in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium during the Criss Christmas Concert, a performance of Mississippi State's annual Lyceum Series.
The free, 7:30 p.m. concert, with accompaniment by the Starkville/MSU Symphony Big Band, will feature a variety of jazz and swing tunes, including a number of Christmas favorites, said Michael Brown, head of MSU's department of music. The concert is sponsored by two grants from the J.W. Criss Foundation, which awarded the funds to the symphony in support of Gordon's campus performance.
Along with his trombone performances, Gordon has received acclaim as a conductor, composer, arranger, and educator. He has garnered the "Trombonist of the Year" honor six different years from the Jazz Journalists Association, along with receiving the "Critics' Choice" award for best trombonist from the organization in 2000.
A Georgia native, Gordon currently serves on the faculty of the Jazz Arts Program at Manhattan School of Music in New York.
In addition to having a thriving solo career, the jazz and swing performer tours regularly as lead of the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, headlining venues throughout the world. He is a former veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and has been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor's "Jazz at Kennedy Center" series.
Gordon has recorded 13 solo albums and seven co-leader albums, including his most recent February release "Come and T-Staff," a quintet recording featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford.
For more information, contact Dr. Brown at 662-325-3070 or mbrown@colled.msstate.edu.