Vadala will be featured at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, sharing the PepsiCo Recital Hall stage with the TCU Faculty Jazz Combo. Tickets are $10 at the door.
All day Saturday (March 30) is devoted to classes and workshops with 28 top high school and middle school jazz ensembles.
The Saturday night event is at 7:30 p.m. in Ed Landreth Auditorium with Chris Vadala, the TCU Jazz Ensembles and award presentations to the top student groups. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Chris Vadala’s performing career has been highlighted by a long tenure as a standout woodwind artist with the renowned Chuck Mangione Quartet. In addition, he has
performed and/or recorded with such greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, B.B. King, Chick Corea, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Placido Domingo, Sarah Vaughn, Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Henry Mancini, Doc Severinsen, Joe Lovano, and many others. As of 2009, he became a regular member of the award-winning Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and has been the first call saxophonist with National Symphony Orchestra for many years.
This is the 35th year for the annual Jazz Festival which has a rich history of bringing in the greats in the field to perform alongside the University's own talented jazz ensembles.... helping train aspiring young musicians during the Saturday session and blowing audiences out of their seats at the awards concert that night.