January 10, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Registration is still open for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Music’s Jazz Summit, a three-day intensive course for high school students.

Students of all levels are encouraged to apply and will be placed by audition. All students attending should be proficient in their instruments. Registration is $65 and ends Jan. 18. Students will take part in sectional master classes, rehearsals and concerts and receive a UAB Jazz Summit medal and T-shirt, dinner Thursday night and lunch on Friday. To register, contact Jazz Summit Director Steve Roberts, D.M.A., at jazztpt@uab.edu, by phone at 205-934-6154 or by fax at 205-975-1931.

The summit begins at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7. Participants will be placed in big bands and combos according to their skill and experience, and will be mixed in with UAB jazz students in their various ensembles.

The summit will feature two free public concerts. Students in the UAB Jazz program will perform at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, and all summit attendees will perform in a final concert at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, both in the UAB Mary Culp Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th St. S. Both concerts are free and open to the public. Call 205-934-6154.

Clinicians at the summit include Roberts, assistant professor of music at UAB; Sean Parsons, D.M.A., of Marshall University; Dave Amaral, local freelance artist and clinician; Gene Fambrough, D.M.A., assistant director of bands and percussion instructor at UAB; Chad Fisher, jazz band instructor at Oak Mountain Middle School and instructor at The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame; Abraham Becker, adjunct instructor of applied bass at UAB; and Carlos Pino, M.M., a private instructor who performs regularly at Summerfest Musical Theater, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Rubicon Theater Company in Ventura, Calif.