College of Fine Arts and Design

Feb. 18, 2010

Grammy-winning jazz vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur will join the
University of Central Oklahoma Jazz Ensemble I for a fundraising concert at 8 p.m.,
Saturday, Feb. 27 at the UCO Jazz Lab, to benefit the ensemble's trip to Europe this summer.

The ensemble has been invited to perform at the 50th anniversary of the Antibes
Jazz Festival in the French Riviera and the Umbria Jazz festival in Italy. Funds raised at the concert will help defray travel costs of the trip.

"These are significant performance opportunities for our students," said Brian
Gorrell, director of the ensemble and Central's Jazz Studies division head.

"Through this collaboration with one of the all time jazz greats, patrons have an entertaining way to help these deserving students."


Blind since birth, and armed with the rare gift of perfect pitch, Schuur has recorded 11 albums, including "Timeless" and "Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra," which spent 33 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz charts.

She has headlined at Carnegie Hall and the White House and has toured and performed with such musical greats as B. B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson,
Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones.

The concert is sponsored by Tres Amigos Productions, a non-profit group
whose goal is to bring nationally known acts and notoriety to the Jazz Lab.

Tickets to the concert are $100. To make reservations, call Tres Amigos
Productions at (405) 340-8552.

For a complete schedule of UCO College of Fine Arts and Design performances and events, visit www.uco.edu/fineartsanddesign.