3rd Sunday Concert Series at Christ Church

THE THIRD SUNDAY CONCERT SERIES

THE THIRD SUNDAY CONCERT SERIES NEWS RELEASE

Christ Episcopal Church
120 S. New Hampshire Street
Covington, Louisiana 70433

Media Contact: Margaret Mashburn
(985) 626-5714
mmashbur@bellsouth.net

September 4, 2007

THIRD SUNDAY CONCERTS BEGINS EIGHTEENTH SEASON

Christ Episcopal Church in Covington will open its eighteenth season of Third Sunday Concerts with a performance by The L.S.U. Faculty Jazz Trio on Sunday, September 16 at 5 p.m. The group will perform a program entitled “The Great American Song Book.”

The trio consists of Bill Grimes on bass, Willis Delony on piano and Brian Shaw on trumpet. They will perform selections from composers such as Gershwin, Ellington, Kern, Cole Porter, Mercer, and others.

Grimes is currently Professor of Jazz Studies and Director of Graduate Studies at the LSU School of Music in Baton Rouge. Widely respected as a jazz bassist, Grimes has worked with such jazz legends as Joe Pass, Monty Alexander, Phil Woods and Bill Dobbins. He has made numerous recordings, including an album entitled Dream Dancing, featuring his own trio, and a duo album with pianist Willis Delony entitled “Civilized Conversations.” Grimes is an important pops orchestra arranger -- with more than 100 scores to his credit -- and conductor. He is currently the principal Pops Conductor of the Baton Rouge Symphony and has led the Huntsville (AL) Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tulsa Philharmonic on many occasions. He has arranged and conducted an album of Gershwin classics, S'Wonderful, which features trombonist Harry Watters and the Czech Philharmonic. His latest recording project Standards, Volume 1 is with the Robinson-Grimes duo.

Delony is Professor of Piano and Jazz Studies at L.S.U. and has won national and international acclaim as a jazz and classical pianist, conductor, chamber player, commercial composer, and arranger. His concert explorations of the jazz and classical piano worlds have been showcased in a recording entitled, A New World A' Comin' – Classical and Jazz Connections, which was released on the Centaur label. In a review published by Fanfare magazine, Peter Burwasser writes: "(Delony) plays with gusto and finesse, and with an especially nimble rhythmic sensibility, a proper combination of attributes for jazz, or any other kind of music-making, for that matter." Previous album credits include a recording of sonatas by Samuel Barber and Sergei Prokofiev, also on the Centaur label, and the jazz album with Bill Grimes.

Brian Shaw is the newest member of the trio having been named Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz Studies at Louisiana State University beginning in August 2007. He maintains an active schedule on modern and baroque trumpet. He holds degrees from Eastern Illinois University (B.Mus.) and the Eastman School (M. Mus.). At Eastman, Brian served as principal trumpet of the Eastman Wind Ensemble during its 2004 Far East Tour and 2005 Carnegie Hall Concert. While completing doctoral work at the University of Texas, Brian was principal trumpet on the upcoming world premiere recording of John Corigliano's Circus Maximus (Symphony No. 3) with the University of Texas Wind Ensemble. During his time in Texas he also performed and recorded as guest principal trumpet with the Dallas Wind Symphony and was a member of the Austin Lyric Opera Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony, the Baltimore Handel Chorus, and the Eastman Conductor's Orchestra.
All concerts in the Third Sunday series are free, open to the public, and followed by a reception where the audience can meet the performers. Childcare is provided for children under six years of age.
The series is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the St. Tammany Arts Commission.

Christ Church is located at 120 S. New Hampshire in Covington at the entrance to Bogue Falaya Park. For more information, contact the church office at (985) 892-3177.

Willis Delony

Brian Shaw