2011 Stan Wheeler Memorial Jazz Concert at Yale Law School April 3

The dean and faculty of Yale Law School and Yale Bands will present the 2011 Stan Wheeler Jazz Concert on Sunday, April 3, 2011, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. in Yale Law School’s Levinson Auditorium, 127 Wall Street, New Haven. The concert will feature the Yale Jazz Ensemble (YJE) directed by Thomas C. Duffy, and the Reunion Jazz Ensemble. Admission is free and no tickets are required. Doors open at 1:30. The Yale Bands info line is 203-432-4113.

Reunion is a group of Yale Jazz Ensemble alumni who, along with the late Yale Law School professor and trumpeter Stanton Wheeler, were early members of the YJE in the 1970s. Professor Wheeler continued to play with the Yale Jazz Ensemble until his death in 2007, and this is the fourth annual concert dedicated to his memory. Reunion members include well-known jazz artists Brad Dechter (alto sax), Paul Lieberman (tenor sax), Gary Bennett (bari sax), Steve Perrett (trumpet), Tony Lombardozzi (guitar), Jeff Fuller (bass), Paul Sullivan (piano), and Jesse Hameen II (drums).

The YJE portion of the program will feature Western Reunion (Gerry Mulligan), Tiger of San Pedro (John LaBarbara), Wrgly (Maria Schneider), and a special arrangement of Cheek to Cheek, arranged by Assistant to the Director Garth Neustadter, featuring Stasha Rosen, voice.

The Yale Jazz Ensemble is a seventeen-piece big band that performs a wide variety of music, from Yale’s Benny Goodman archive to the newest and most progressive jazz compositions. The Ensemble has performed extensively in the United States and internationally at such noted venues as New York’s Village Vanguard and Iridium jazz clubs, and London’s Ronnie Scott’s. The YJE has performed with or opened for The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band, the World Saxophone Quartet, Jane Ira Bloom, Jimmy Owens, and Branford Marsalis.