News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 2/5/03   Click on image for publication quality photo BILL EVANS FEST FEATURES PIANIST GEORGE WINSTON       HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University will honor the late seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz pianist Bill Evans at the Second Annual Bill Evans Jazz Festival, Feb 20-22.   The three-day tribute to the 1950 Southeastern graduate will showcase the Eddie Gomez Trio, pianist George Winston, guitarist Curt Warren, and the SLU Jazz Ensemble.       The festival opens on February 20 with a 2 p.m. “all-Evans” concert by guitarist Curt Warren. The free concert is scheduled for the Music Recital Hall.       An innovative guitarist, Warren began his career with singer Frankie Laine in Las Vegas, then moved to Hawaii for stints with Teresa Brewer, Tony Martin, and the Honolulu Symphony.  From 1974 to 1978, he was featured with the U.S. Navy’s official jazz ensemble, the Commodores, in Washington, D.C. In 1978, he joined the music faculty of the University of Texas at El Paso, teaching jazz guitar and jazz improvisation. He continues to work with his own trio in jazz clubs in El Paso, where he has played with artists such as Herb Ellis, Bill Watrous, Carl Fontana, Rob McConnell, and Bud Shank.      On the evening of February 20, the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts joins the Bill Evans Fest with a concert at the downtown Hammond theater by Grammy Award-winning pianist George Winston. The 7:30 p.m. concert is part of the Columbia’s 2003 season, “Variety!”      In 1982 Winston released “December,” which has sold more than four millioncopies, and another platinum-selling album, “Winter into Spring.” He wrote the music for a 1986 children's album based on the story of “The Velveteen Rabbit,” which was narrated by actress Meryl Streep.         Winston maintains an active touring schedule, performing more than a hundred solo piano concerts annually in the United States, Asia and Europe.       Tickets for his concert will go on sale February 14 at the Columbia box office in the theater’s lobby at 220 E. Thomas Street. Tickets are also available online through TicketWeb, www.ticketweb.com. The box office, 985-543-4371, is open from noon to 5 p.m., weekdays, and one hour before performance. Tickets are $30, Orchestra 1; $25, Orchestra 2; $30, Loge; $25, Balcony 1; $20, Balcony 2.       Winston’s Dancing Cat Productions will sponsor a food drive for the Tangi Food Pantry in conjunction with the concert. Patrons are encouraged to bring a donation of canned food to place in collection baskets at the theater entrances. Sponsoring a local food drive is a tradition at all Winston concerts.      The award-winning Southeastern Jazz Ensemble, directed by Allen Zurcher, will pay tribute to Evans on February 21 with a 7:30 p.m. concert in the Music Recital Hall.        “While Evans is remembered primarily as the leader of a jazz trio, many of his compositions have been transcribed for larger ensembles,” said trombonist and Southeastern alumnus Ron Nethercutt. As a member of the Southeastern music faculty, Nethercutt, now on staff at the University of the Philippines, amassed an archive of Evans material and memorabilia, which is housed at Southeastern’s Sims Memorial Library. Nethercutt also produced “Homecoming,” a recording of Evan’s November 1979 concert at Southeastern’s Pottle Music Building Auditorium, which was released by Milestone Records.        The festival will conclude  with a concert at 7:30 p.m., February 22, at the Columbia by the Eddie Gomez trio, featuring Gomez, Stefan Karlsson on piano, and Jimmy Cobb on drums.       “In 1966, at the young age of 21, Gomez began an 11-year tenure with Bill Evans,” Nethercutt said. “He left Evans’ trio in 1977 to begin a varied career with some of the most noted jazz artists in the world, including Chick Corea, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and Sarah Vaughn.”        A native of Puerto Rico, Gomez grew up in New York. He began studying bass at the age of 11 and attended the High School of Music and Art before entering the prestigious Julliard School of Music. Gomez can be heard on hundreds of recordings and spans jazz, classical, Latin, and popular music.        Gomez and his trio will also present a master class for Southeastern students at 1 p.m., February 22, in the Music Recital Hall.       Southeastern organized the first Bill Evans Jazz Festival in 2002 with a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts. One of the festival’s highlights was the unveiling of an Evans mural, “Turn Out the Stars” by Edward Pramuk, commissioned for the Music Recital Hall.  This year’s festival was also funded in part by a Louisiana Division of the Arts grant.       “In letters to his Southeastern professors years after he graduated, Bill Evans expressed his deep appreciation for their patience, perseverance, and personal attention,” Nethercutt said. “When he returned to his alma mater 30 years after graduation, he told the audience that his last two years at Southeastern had been the happiest of his life.”       Southeastern named Evans its first “Alumnus of the Year” in 1969. He died in 1980.        Additional information concerning the Bill Evans Festival is available online at www.billevans.info/fest or by calling the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts at 985-549- 2184. Return to News Releases