The Denison University Jazz Ensemble, directed by Pete Mills, will perform in a joint concert with the Latin Jazz Percussion Ensemble, directed by Guy Remonko, at 3 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 11) in Burke Recital Hall. This performance celebrates the history of small group jazz and will be a great opportunity to hear solo blues performances says Mills. The concert features Hank Marr, the music department's Vail artist-in-residence, on the Hammond organ. The concert is free and open to the public.

The afternoon program includes a number of jazz hits made famous by Blue Note records in an aptly named Blue Note Era and promises to be quite "a scene," according to Mills. The concert will showcase a number of Denison students in solo performances, keeping with the small group flavor of the afternoon.

A Denison faculty member in the 1980s and one of the foremost Hammond jazz organ players in the country, Marr has since retired from the Ohio State University Jazz Studies Program. He is now touring the country and world giving concerts and clinics at festivals and colleges. Marr is also currently recording on the Double-Time and CoJazz labels.

An affiliated studio instructor at Denison, Mills received a Canadian Arts Council Grant and, in 1997, was named a North Carolina Jazz Composers Award winner, which funded his debut compact disc, "Momentum." The album was recorded with bassist Doug Richeson, also an affiliated studio instructor at Denison, and was released on the CoJazz label. Mills is an active performer, appearing with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the band "Jazz on the Go" in Columbus. He also performs with his own "Pete Mills Quartet" and offers clinics and private instruction.

Remonko is director of percussion studies at Ohio University as well as serving on Denison's faculty and is a member of the Bob Thompson Trio.

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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