ROCHESTER, NY — Two of the Eastman School of Music’s most versatile faculty artists — pianist Tony Caramia and trombonist Mark Kellogg — have joined forces for a new jazz CD that celebrates upstate New York.
The CD, titled Upstate Standards, features the music of three prominent upstate New York composers: Alec Wilder (Rochester), Jimmy Van Heusen (Syracuse), and Harold Arlen (Buffalo). Caramia and Kellogg will celebrate its release at a special concert, part of Eastman’s Faculty Artist Series, at 3 p.m., Sunday, February 29, in Kilbourn Hall (26 Gibbs St). The program will feature a variety of popular songs from each composer, including several classics that appear on the recording: Arlen’s If I Only Had a Brain (from the Wizard of Oz), Van Heusen’s Here’s That Rainy Day, and Wilder’s The Lady Sings the Blues.
Rochester’s Tom Hampson — longtime host of Mostly Jazz on WXXI-FM 1370 and author of the CD’s liner notes — praises the duo’s “top drawer” performances. Among other things, he praises Kellogg’s “rambunctious prelude to Lady Sings the Blues” and his “sensitive playing on the wistful Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneden’s,” while simply stating that Caramia “is uniformly impressive, whether accompanying Kellogg or soloing.”
“Since Tony and I are also originally from upstate New York, collaborating on this project has been especially meaningful,” said Kellogg, associate professor at Eastman and principal trombonist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra — who, like Caramia, is equally at home in classical and jazz realms.
“The entire experience has been an amazing one,” adds Caramia, Eastman professor of piano who also directs the School’s piano pedagogy program and its class piano program.
General admission tickets for the concert are $5 (free to UR ID holders), sold at the Kilbourn Hall box office only one hour before concert time. CDs will be available for purchase (and signing) as well. In addition, as part of the Eastman-in-Concert label, they will be sold at the Eastman School Bookstore (25 Gibbs St.) and online at CDstreet.com.
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Note to editors : An electronic color photo of Caramia and Kellogg is available.