June 17, 2009
MACOMB, IL – - Local and area jazz artists will team with Broadway Equity actor and vocalist Stephanie Umoh for the Friday, June 19 Al’s Place: A Jazz Showcase benefit to raise funds for Macomb’s eighth annual Al Sears Jazz Festival set for the third weekend in September in Chandler Park.
The benefit will be held from 7-10 p.m. at The Change of Pace, 301 N. Campbell Street in downtown Macomb on Friday. Cost of admission is $20.
Umoh, a working actor who is with the cast of “Hair,” has appeared as a featured soloist with The Boston Pops Orchestra. She recently received her BFA in musical theater at The Boston Conservatory.
Closer to Macomb, Iowa’s Bullis-Ritter Dixieland Band will be in the lineup. Founded by Keokuk High School band director Craig Bullis (clarinet) and trumpet player Ray Rutter, the six-piece band plays throughout the region. The band features drummer Woodie Brassil, pianist Ann Collins, bassist Jim Betts and Jim Priebe on trombone. Priebe directed bands in Burlington, IA for 40 years and continues to play with the Burlington Municipal Band and the Southeast Iowa Symphony. Collins served as chair of music at Western Illinois University and is the principal organizer of the Al Sears Jazz Festival. Some of the band members also play with the Bullis-Ritter Big Band.
More than a dozen jazz artists will donate their talents to this summer blast of jazz, designed to prep the audience for the full-day Al Sears Jazz Festival this fall.
Collins, Betts and Brassil will pull double-duty and also play as The Ann Collins Trio. Sitting in with the trio will be guitarist Bill Maakestad and vocalist Vicky Mayo. Mayo is a former Macomb High School choral director who has sung professionally in New York. Maakestad is a co-founder of the Al Sears Jazz Festival, leads the musical group B-Flat Avenue and performs monthly at The Wine Sellers in downtown Macomb.
A graduate of both Macomb High School and Western Illinois University, vocalist Bethany Worrell will perform Friday. She has performed previously in spring or summer fundraisers for the Al Sears Jazz Festival.
Making his first appearance in connection with the Sears fundraisers is pianist Steven Solomon. A WIU student, Solomon plays in the Chicago area and has won four scholarships, three in Macomb – - one of those the Ann Collins Jazz Piano Scholarship – - and one in Chicago, and the 2008 Six Flags Choral Accompanist Award.
A WIU professor well-known in music circles for his work in Gospel music, Alphonso Simpson will sing at the benefit show. In addition to being a solo performer, Simpson has directed both community and church choirs.
Saxophonist Pete Hannen will also perform as part of the show at The Change of Pace. Hannen has most recently performed around the region as a member of Peoria-based Sally Weisenburg and Her Famous Sidemen and of the Macomb-based Vishnu Springs Trio.
A local favorite who is not only a performer but is in demand as a private music instructor, Sondra Mosley will sing and play the piano as part of Friday’s entertainment. Mosley owns and operates a unique studio, The Piano Lab, where both individuals and families come to learn the joys of playing piano.
Tickets may be purchased in advance at participating Macomb businesses and at the Macomb Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development Corporation. Tickets will also be available at the door Friday. All proceeds will benefit the Al Sears Jazz Festival in September.
Copy by Patrick Stout and Bonnie Barker
Copy By: WIU
