Hancock, Brecker and Hargrove return to Eisenhower for Feb. 22 concert
February 1, 2005
Three jazz legends-in-the-making—Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove—join talents in a program called Our Times at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the Penn State University Park campus.
When keyboardist Hancock, saxophonist Brecker and trumpeter Hargrove last collaborated at Penn State‚s Center for the Performing Arts-in October 2001-a crowd of almost 2,000 heard a tribute to the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. This time, the threesome-collectively known as Directions in Music-interprets the work of composers who have had a significant impact on today‚s jazz. The concert includes music by greats such as Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.
Bassist Scott Colley and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington join Hancock, Brecker and Hargrove in concert.
Tickets are on sale now at $35 for an adult; $22 for a full-time University Park student; and $28 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, log on to www.cpa.psu.edu or phone 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown in the lobby of State College‚s Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; HUB-Robeson Center Information Desk, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays; and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Directions in Music's 2001-2002 tour not only earned praise from critics and the approval of audiences-it also spawned Live at Massey Hall, an album that won two Grammys®.
Hancock, who came to fame in the early 1960s as part of Davis‚ seminal band, has garnered two fistfuls of Grammys® and an Academy Award for the film score to 'Round Midnight. Last March he donated several of his instruments, including a keyboard and two synthesizers, to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American history. Also last year, the National Endowment for the Arts named him a "jazz master."
The technically remarkable Brecker has performed and recorded with a who's who of musicians and singers, including John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor. He spent most of the 1970s as co-leader (with his trumpeter brother Randy) of the Brecker Brothers, a commercially successful funk group. In 1987, with the release of his first album as a leader, Brecker began playing in more serious jazz settings.
The great trumpet players who came before him have undoubtedly inspired Hargrove, but his playing rises above sounding overly influenced by his jazz predecessors. His extraordinary way with a trumpet has landed him in a variety of settings. His releases delve into acoustic ballads, bebop, Latin and sideman efforts with jazz luminaries.
Jacki Hunt sponsors the performance. Radio station 93.7 The Bus is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, sponsored by the Center for the Performing Arts Community Advisory Council, provides insight from an artist or expert perspective and is offered free to interested ticket holders in the Eisenhower Auditorium Conference Room one hour before the performance.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379