The Knoxville Jazz Festival

Artists

Donald Brown / Piano

Pianist, composer, teacher, band leader and arranger, Donald Brown is a beam of bright talent on today’s jazz scene. His lyrical, original music has found favor among many masterful contemporary players. Born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Brown began his career as a drummer, received a scholarship to Memphis State University as a trumpet player, and did not study piano until he attended college. Brown is part of the Memphis Three, a trio of exceptional keyboard talents that passed through Memphis State University in the 70s that includes James Williams and Mulgrew Miller. Brown gained essential experience and attention as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He has recorded over a dozen CDs with his own band and has worked as soloist and accompanist in the bands of Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, and Johny Griffin.

Keith Brown / Drums

He directs the UT Jazz Big Band and small jazz combos. He also studied with Alan Dawson, George Marsh, and Ed Soph on a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Professor Brown is an active jazz performer and has played with Charlie Spivak, Mose Alison, Diane Schure, Jerry Coker, Tommy Flanagan and others. He is very involved with the Percussive Arts Society and has contributed articles to its official publication.

Lionel Loueke /Guitar

Lionel Loueke makes his East Tennessee debut at the KJF although he is no stranger to middle Tennessee, having performed at Bonnaroo and with Herbie Hancock at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. His effort on Hancock's latest CD, River: The Joni Letters, was awarded a Grammy and Downbeat magazine named him the Rising Star of 2007. Born in the West African country of Benin, Loueke blends technical mastery with the melodies and rhythms of his native culture, creating a vocal and instrumental sound that thrills audiences the world over.

Ralph Peterson/Drums

Ralph Peterson is one of the most distinctive drummers in jazz. In a career spanning 25 years, his playing emerges as rock solid yet spontaneous and entertaining. He played alongside Art Blakey in the Jazz Messenger Big Band until Blakey's death in 1983. Peterson continues to set standards for jazz drumming whether he is sideman for jazz greats such as Terence Blanchard or the late Michael Brecker or leading his own audacious Fo'tet and Unity Project. He is now Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music.

Michele Rosewoman/Piano

Michele Rosewoman's earthy, energetic style of playing is a good match for Peterson. As bandleader, composer, and innovator, she brings to her music a deep appreciation of standard jazz forms as well as an abiding passion for Cuban and African music. It all makes for a sound that is original, exciting, and wondrous to hear. She leads her own bands, Quintessence, and New Yor-Uba, a musical celebration of Cuba in America. In its 22 year history, Quintessence has brought together some of the inventive voices in jazz. The October '06 release of The Inside Out (Advance Dance Disques) marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter for this highly acclaimed ensemble. I

Mike Clark/Drums

Mike Clark gained worldwide recognition as one of America's foremost jazz and funk drummers while playing with herbie Hancock's group in the early 1970s. Mike became known as a major innovator through his incisive playing on Hancock's Thrust album, which garnered him an international cult following. In addition to Hancock, he has performed with Chet Baker, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Nat Adderly, Mose Allison, and Geri Allen. He is called “the most sampled drummer in hip hop” with his beats being used by musicians as diverse as Grandmaster Flash, NWA, Britney Spears, and Prince.

	Warren Wolf/Vibraphone Warren Wolf began playing drums at the age of three, took up vibraphone a few years later, toured with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra when he was 9, wrote his first tune at 10, and was hired for professional jazz gigs by the time he was 12. He entered Berklee College of Music at 17 and since graduating, maintains a robust performance schedule with his own group, in all-star bands and with jazz greats such as Bobby Hutcherson, David “Fathead” Newman, and Bobby Watson.
	Jeff Coffin/Saxophone Jeff Coffin, well-traveled saxophonist/composer, and two-time Grammy Award winning member of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, rejects all labels and categories other than “music” and “musician.” Coffin has traveled the world with the Flecktones and has performed with musicians from all walks including The Dave Matthews Band, Branford Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Garth Brooks, Phish, Van Morrison, J.D. Souther, the Dixie Chicks, Del McCoury, John Scofield, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He also leads his own band, The Mu'tet which takes its name from the word mutation, giving way to Coffin's belief that music is ever changing and mutating.
	Pamela York/Piano Canadian born, York was classically trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She studied jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston and completed the Masters Degree om Kazz at UT. She calls Donald Brown her “greatest mento.” She won the 2007 Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to an amazing technical prowess, she is an engaging singer and composer.
	Bill Mobley/Trumpet Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Bill Mobley has lived in New York City since 1987. He has played in the Martin “Smitty” Smith Sextet, the Clifford Jordan Big Band, the George Coleman octet, the Geoff Keezer Band, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the T.S. Monk Band and the Mingus Dyanasty Band. He is a noted arranger; several of his arrangements appear on the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra's CD, Blues Man from Memphis. His suite for orchestra and jazz band premiered last fall at Jazz en Tete in Clermont-Ferrand, France. His latest CD is entitled, Moodscapes.
	Bill Scarlett/Saxophone Bill Scarlett was smitten by woodwinds at age 10 when his parents took him to hear Benny Goodman at the San Francisco World's Fair. He abandoned the violin he'd been studying and took up clarinet and saxophone. As a teen-ager he gigged with Jack Teagarden and by 1947, he was on the road with Art Pepper. He earned a masters degree in music and in 1957, was hired by the University of Tennessee to teach clarinet and saxophone. He was principal clarinetist in the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for 23 years and gigged with the likes of Woody Herman on weekends. He was one of the first professors in the UT Jazz Program. He founded the Jazz Giants more than thirty years ago. It is estimated that most jazz musicians in Knoxville have passed through Bill's band.