free jazz concert at springfield college
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., 2002 -- "Young Musicians To Watch,"an evening of powerful jazz, will kick-off Springfield College’s winter/spring series of free public arts events with the hot, young Afro-Cuban world group, "INSIGHT: the band,"and special guests the swinging, youthful "Sonja Kitchell & friends,"on Friday, February 7, in Appleton Auditorium of Fuller Arts Center on the campus.INSIGHT¹s innovative and energetic jazz has captivated national and international audiences. The world jazz of the Hartford, Connecticut-based group combines rich harmonies of trumpet, tenor sax, and alto sax along with the hard hitting rhythm of the piano, upright bass, congas, bongos and trap drums. INSIGHT has performed at jazz festivals around the country and in Havana, Cuba, and recently performed its commissioned arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Cappricio Espagnol with The Hartford Symphony Chamber Orchestra. It also opened for Hans Dulfer at the Hartford International Jazz Festival.
Sonja Kitchell, whose "friends" band and own songwriting artfully straddle the jazz-pop-rock-folk divide, is known locally for her sold-out shows at the Iron Horse in Northampton. The barely teenaged vocalist has performed with confidence and sophistication beyond her youth at the 1999 Special Olympics World Games and the Vermont Jazz Center Summer Program with Sheila Jordan, and with a number of jazz bands around the country. The University of Massachusetts named her the outstanding musician at its High School Jazz Festival and awarded her a scholarship to its Jazz in July summer program. Her band includes 17-year-old musicians Ben Jaffe on drums, Caley Monahon-Ward on violin, and Miro Sprague on piano, plus Sean Pentland, 18, on bass, and Ross Bellenoit, 19, on guitar.
The Springfield College William Simpson Fine Arts Series includes concerts, theater presentations, art exhibitions, dance concerts, literary events, film festivals and other visual and performing arts events. Programs are open to the public free of charge. A free series poster and calendar, as well as other information, is available by calling Carol Mitchell, chair of the series, at 748-3187.
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