Feb. 10, 2011 — The award winning CSU Bakersfield Jazz program will present a Jazz Coffeehouse concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 in the CSUB Music Building, Room 127. Tickets at the door are $10 for general admission and $6 for students and seniors 60+. The concert will feature current students and alumni from the CSUB Department of Music playing an eclectic mix of jazz standards and original compositions in intimate small jazz combos.

Leading off the program will be Freaky Dog Water, a large ensemble featuring horn soloists Chris Nguyen, Derrick McKee and Alejandro Arvizu backed by a funky electric rhythm section that includes guitar soloist Alec Olivieri, keyboardist Loren Hall and drummer Alex Sarad. The group will present new works by student composers James Dandy and Chris Anderson along with a pair of Miles Davis compositions from his 1970s jazz-funk period and one by Afrobeat innovator Femi Kuti.

Next, the group Mister Haba will explore a unique and fascinating blend of world percussion with third-stream jazz and post-bop influences. Featuring CSUB small jazz ensemble director Kris Tiner on trumpet with students Chris Nguyen on saxophone, Brent Williams on trumpet, Marlex Booc on French horn, Devery Sturges on guitar, Cory Kitchens on fretless bass, and Amin Karegaran on percussion, their set will include music by iconoclastic jazz composers Carla Bley, Wadada Leo Smith and Anthony Braxton along with several new compositions by Tiner.

The CSUB Department of Music is pleased to present The CSUB Jazz Singers at this concert. Led by director Peggy Sears, the group will perform Darmon Meader's arrangements of the jazz standards "Cottontail" and "For All We Know." Meader is a member of the acclaimed jazz vocal ensemble New York Voices, who will be featured at the upcoming Bakersfield Jazz Festival and will lead a clinic with the CSUB Jazz Singers in May.

Bringing the evening to a rousing conclusion will be Rickety Ship, an all-star sextet comprised of some of CSUB's most outstanding student jazz soloists: trumpeter Mark Manda, saxophonist Chris Nguyen, pianist Jay Smith, guitarist Jo-El Patterson, bassist Fernando Montoya, and drummer Canaan McDuffie. The group will premiere new compositions by Smith and Montoya as well as music by jazz greats Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, and recent Bakersfield Jazz Festival headliner Dave Douglas.

The Jazz Coffeehouse Concert Series is a quarterly series where CSUB students, community members, and special guest artists perform live jazz in all of its many guises. The CSUB Jazz Coffeehouse Concert Series is produced and directed by Kris Tiner, trumpeter, composer and adjunct faculty member at CSUB. For more information, contact Kris Tiner at 661-654-3093, 661-205-1874 or ktiner@csub.edu.