CONTACT: Rosie Cannizzo, Public Events Manager, 920-832-6589
Seth Harris, Public Events Assistant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 27, 2000
Lawrence University presents jazz greats John Medeski and Bob Moses in concert
APPLETON, WI John Medeski, keyboardist of the popular jazz trio Medeski
Martin & Wood, will join legendary jazz drummer Bob Moses for a concert at the
Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 8 p.m. Sunday, February 27, 2000. Tickets are $10
for adults and $5 for students, seating is general admission. The concert is
being presented by the Lawrence Conservatory. For tickets, call the Lawrence
Box Office at 920-832-6749.
John Medeski began playing the piano shortly after he started walking, and by
the age of 5, was studying classical music and entertaining his family. He
had discovered jazz by the time he was 10 years old, and began studying jazz
piano not long after. Medeskišs focus gradually changed from classical music
to improvisation and folk music, expanding to include the use of electronic
keyboards and musical effects.
Receiving a National Endowment for Advancement in the Arts Award in 1982,
Medeski enrolled in the New England Conservatory of Music and studied with Ran
Blake, Dave Holland, and micro tonal musician Joe Maneri. Medeski moved to
New York in 1990, and began playing with bassist Chris Wood and drummer Billy
Martin, forming the jazz organ trio Medeski Martin & Wood. Critic Bill
Milkowski of JazzTimes has described the groupšs music as "danceable yet
provocative, catchy yet full of improvisational daringthe ultimate hybrid of
the 90s, one where the influences of James Brown and Sun Ra, King Sunny Ade
and John Coltrane, Sly Stone and Larry Young, The Meters and Charles Ives,
Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Smith meet on equal footing."
Bob Moses is universally known as a jazz drummer and percussionist, educator,
conductor, recording and performance artist, and composer. According to
critic Nat Hentoff of Modern Recording & Music, "Bob Moses has now emerged as
the possessor of one the grander imaginations in Americašs true classical
music. No orchestral composer of this scope, mellow wit and freshly
distinctive range of colors has come along since Gil Evans."
Moses has been part of the jazz and avant garde music scene for more than
thirty years. Throughout his career, he has worked with international artists
such as Charles Mingus, Pat Metheny, and Bobby McFerrin, among many others.
Bob Moses regularly performs at jazz festivals around the world, and has
recorded many highly-acclaimed albums, including Bittersweet in the Ozone, The
Story of Moses, and Drumming Birds. Moses is currently on the faculty of the
New England Conservatory of Music, where he and John Medeski met and began
collaborating.
General admission tickets, $10 for adults and $5 for students, are available
through the Lawrence University Box Office, 115 S. Drew Street, 12:30 5:30
p.m. Monday Saturday. Call 920-832-6749 for more information or to order
tickets.