Internationally Acclaimed Vocalist and Trombonist Aubrey Logan to Headline Loyola University’s 56th Annual Jazz Festival
Hosted by Louisiana’s largest Jazz Studies program, the festival brings more than 300 student musicians to campus for performances, concerts and clinics
Students from around the state and region will get a chance to listen to – and learn from – celebrated vocalist and trombonist Aubrey Logan when she plays Loyola University’s 56th Annual Jazz Festival on March 7.
The public also is invited to attend Logan’s performance, which will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall, in the Communications/Music Complex, 6363 St. Charles Ave. She will be accompanied by the award-winning Loyola Jazz Ensemble, and the Crescent City Collective, Loyola’s jazz vocal group, also will be featured at the concert.
Logan is a pop and jazz singer who won the Audience Choice Award and Jury’s First Place Award in 2009 at the world-renowned Shure-Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. She just released her newest recording, “Aubrey Logan and her Bigger Than Average Band.”
She will not only perform at Loyola’s festival but also teach clinics March 6 from 1-2 p.m. and March 7 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Logan will play her trombone during the clinics, which are free and open to the public, and attendees may ask questions.
Gordon Towell, coordinator of Jazz Studies at Loyola, said he is excited to bring Logan to Loyola – for her immense talent, her ability as a younger artist to connect with the students, and because of the sheer fact that she is playing music in a genre in which women are greatly underrepresented.
“Jazz has been a man’s world for all these years,” he said. We need to break down those walls. We can’t go back and change the past, but we can hopefully influence the future. Without women’s voices, we are missing a big chunk of the music.”
More than 300 students from 15 middle, junior and high school big bands and jazz combos are expected to participate in the three-day festival, which runs from March 5-7, he said.
The festival always features a specific instrument – this year it’s the trombone – and as such begins March 5 with acclaimed local trombonist Charlie Halloran performing a traditional jazz tribute concert, an annual event honoring Connie and Elaine Jones.
The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. and will take place in Nunemaker Auditorium, in the Monroe Science Complex. Halloran will be joined by Dr. Michael White, Shaye Cohn, Mark Braud, Tyler Thomson, Ellis Dyson and James Alsanders.
The following day, members of the Loyola jazz faculty will perform a concert at 4:30 p.m. in Roussel Hall that is free and open to the public, though those interested in attending should RSVP for a seat in advance of the show.
Then, in addition to the clinics with Logan, the various school bands will perform in 30-minute slots in Roussel Hall on March 6 and 7, followed by a clinics with faculty members to hone the pieces on which they are currently working, Towell said.
Tickets to see Charlie Halloran on March 5 are $21 for adults; $16 for senior citizens, and Loyola faculty and staff with an ID; and, $9 for non-Loyola students with an ID. Loyola students with an ID may attend for free.
Tickets to the Aubrey Logan show on March 7 are $21 for all attendees. For more information or to purchase tickets to see the concerts featuring Halloran and Logan, and to RSVP for the faculty jazz concert, visit https://cmm.loyno.edu/loyola-presents.
About the College of Music and Media
The College of Music and Media is comprised of two schools — the School of Music and Theatre Professions and the School of Communication and Design. Students who choose to study in the college prepare for careers in music, theatre, music industry, graphic design, motion design, UX design, filmmaking, strategy, mass media and more.