The Denison University music department will host Vail artist and famed clarinetist Eddie Daniels in concerts with both the Heisey Wind Ensemble at 8 p.m., Saturday (April 12) in Swasey Chapel, and with Denison faculty and student jazz groups at 2 p.m., Sunday (April 13) in Burke Recital Hall. Both programs are free and open to the public. Daniels, one of the greatest clarinetists of both the jazz and classical styles, also will host a master class at noon on Saturday in Burke Hall.

Daniels first came to the attention of the jazz audience as a tenor saxophonist with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1966 at the Village Vanguard club in New York. Later that year he won first prize on saxophone at the International Competition for Modern Jazz in Vienna, Austria. Daniels began playing clarinet at age 13 and earned his master's degree from Juilliard. From a clarinet solo recorded with the Jones-Lewis orchestra ("Live at the Village Vanguard"), Daniels won Downbeat Magazine's International Critics New Star on Clarinet Award. He has won numerous Grammy awards and nominations and has revolutionized the blend of jazz and classical music. Leonard Bernstein said of him "Daniels combines elegance and virtuosity in a way that makes me remember Artur Rubenstein. He is a thoroughly well-bred demon."

The Heisey Wind Ensemble will conclude its 18th season with a concert titled "That's Amore." Tickets are available at the door for $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students over 12. Daniels will perform "Clarinet Concerto" by Jeff Beal. This demanding work was written for Larry Combs, principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony, and shows the virtuosic skills of the performer. It incorporates improvisation and beautiful, lyrical playing.

The Heisey program features music with themes of love. The "Suite from Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev will represent the classic love story; Bernstein's "West Side Story" represents a modern love story; and Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" and Grainger's "Irish Tune from County Derry" continue the "Amore" theme. They also will play a collection of Frank Sinatra tunes.

Russel Mikkelson, director of university bands and associate professor of conducting at Ohio State, will conduct the Heisey Ensemble while Richard Blatti is on leave. Mikkelson also conducts the Ohio State Wind Symphony and its Chamber Winds group.

Daniels' appearance with the Denison Faculty Jazz Ensemble and Student Ensemble members will be less formal but no less masterful. "We'll be playing some standard jazz tunes and a new composition - "Pumpkin Shoes" - that is coming out on my CD later this year," says Pete Mills, an affiliated studio instructor at Denison and leader of the faculty jazz group. The Student Ensemble will play some numbers by Monk, Curtis Fuller, and Johnny Griffin, as well as something selected from their repertoire by Daniels.

Playing in the Faculty Jazz Ensemble will be Mills, Instructor Tom Carroll, and Guy Remonko, Doug Richeson and Richard Lopez, all affiliated studio instructors in Denison's music department.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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