UNK music professor, 308.865.8606 or paynej@unk.edu
Jazz fans will have the opportunity to listen to Platte River Jazz in a free concert Thursday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Nebraska at Kearney Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Platte River Jazz plays easy-to-listen-to jazz from the 1920s to the 1990s, including swing, fusion, bossa nova & samba, jazz-rock, Latin rock and rhythm & blues. The group will be performing as part of the UNK Concerts-On-The-Platte series.
A guest performer with the group, Jason Payne, will play drums on two numbers. Jason, the son of Dr. Jim Payne and Bonnie Payne, is a freshman at Kearney High School. Jason’s parents are members of the group. Dr. Payne, the music director and arranger for the group, will be featured on trumpet, flugelhorn and keyboard. Bonnie Payne plays bass and sings.
Two UNK faculty members in the group, in addition to Dr. Payne, are Dr. Ron Crocker on percussion and Greg Sales on guitar. Other members of the group include Greg Tesdall of Good Samaritan Hospital and UNK graduate student Spencer Hansen. Tesdall will be playing tenor and soprano saxophone, as well as the flute; Hansen will be featured on keyboard, trumpet and vocals.
The music to be performed comes from writers and performers such as Neil Larsen, Chick Corea, Joshua Redman, Glenn Miller, Louis Jordan, Count Basie & Diane Shure, Duke Ellington, Jazz Crusaders, Chuck Mangione, Steve Tyrell, BWB, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Stevie Wonder, Stanley Turrentine, George Gershwin, Tom Scott & the L. A. Express and Grover Washington, Jr.
