SILER CITY, N.C. — Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will perform a free public concert at Jordan-Matthews High School on Friday, January 28, at 7 p.m., to conclude an afternoon jazz clinic for student musicians.
Gelb is a professional saxophonist, clarinetist, jazz composer and jazz band leader who leads The Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra and has performed with many different groups, including the North Carolina Symphony. He currently directs the award-winning Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble, which has been selected five times for the finals of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition and festival, and has served as an interim assistant professor of jazz at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. State University and UNC Greensboro.
La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet includes players from North Carolina, one of whom is originally from the Dominican Republic. The ensemble teaches jazz history, the improvisation process and performs at events all across the state — drawing for its repertoire on music by jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea and Horace Silver.
Scheduled to perform in the 75-minute concert are Steve Anderson on piano, Andy Kleindienst on bass, Beverly Botsford on percussion, Ramon Ortiz on drums, Andrew Sanchez on trumpet and Gregg Gelb on saxophone. Some of the group’s featured tunes are “Cape Verdean Blues,” “Oye Como Va,” “Mambo Inn” and “Son de la Loma.”
Because of the recent pandemic surge, indoor performance and school policy, masks must be worn while in the building and attending the concert.
The concert wraps up an afternoon clinic attended by members the JM Jazz Ensemble and selected eighth-grade musicians from Chatham Middle and Silk Hope schools, with sessions led by members of the sextet for trumpet, trombone, woodwind and percussion musicians. During the concert, student musicians will perform one number with La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet.
Both the concert and jazz clinic are supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The 2021 Grassroots Arts Grant for $1,550 covers half of the program cost; the rest will be matched by JMArts through member contributions and fundraising projects like the sale of JMArts greeting and holiday cards.
More information about JMArts, including a schedule of all upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.
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Members of La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet perform a free, public concert on January 28 after providing a clinic for members of the JM Jazz Ensemble and selected eighth-grade musicians. (Photo courtesy of Gregg Gelb)
The Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet clinic and concert are being supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.