Concert 1
September 14, 2008 • 4:00 P.M.
Jazz Served Sunny Side Up
Big Rapids High School Auditorium, Big Rapids, MI
Map
Presented by
Sponsors to be announced
Guest Artists Appearing with Edward Mallett:
SUNNY WILKINSON has taken her place in that elite group of jazz vocalists who have stretched the boundaries and found themselves "one of a kind." As the daughter of a Methodist minister, Sunny grew up singing in church. In Minnesota, where the school-band tradition was very strong, Sunny started playing trombone in the fourth grade and continued into college, where she played and sang in a "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" style band. She also played and sang in the jazz band at Arizona State University, where she was majoring in Choral Education. It was there that she had her first exposure to jazz music and has been hooked ever since. After graduating from college, Sunny moved to Los Angeles to pursue her singing career. She spent fifteen years there as a session singer, teacher, performer, and jazz recording artist.
After meeting her future husband at a jazz convention in Washington, DC, Sunny moved to Okemos, Michigan, in January of 1993 to be with her husband, DR. RON NEUMANN, where she continues her music career. Her performance credits are impressive, having sung with The Count Basie Band, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, Milt Hinton, Curtis Fuller, and Edgar Winter, among others. In January of 2008 Sunny released her latest CD, a duo project featuring Los Angeles based pianist Tom Garvin entitled A Gentle Time - When Sunny Meets Tom. On the Chase Music Group label, this disc is an intimate excursion through the art of the duo, highlighting Sunny and Tom's 30-year musical relationship. Her other CDs are High Wire, on the Chartmaker label, Alegria, on the Hibrite label, and Sunny Wilkinson, on the Positive Music label. Sunny performs regularly at jazz festivals and clubs across the country and is assistant professor of jazz voice at Michigan State University. She is the Past President of the Michigan chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators and the past chairperson for IAJE's Women's Caucus. She is the co-founder of IAJE's Sisters in Jazz mentoring program. Website
LARRY OCHILTREE is one of the top drummers in the Midwest. He has played and toured with Maynard Ferguson, Mark Murphy, Hendrick Merkins, Marcus Belgrave, and Terry Lower, to name a few.