Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey Music Director) to Premiere New Music at MIT April 16, 2011

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey founder and music director) continues its 38th season with a concert called Past/Prologue that celebrates the Charles Sumner Bicentennial and the MIT Sesquicentennial on Saturday, April 16, at 8 PM, at Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. Admission is free. For information, call 617-452-3205. Musical selections by Mark Harvey and Duke Ellington will explore the theme of past as prologue to the present. Aardvark vocalists Jerry Edwards and Grace Hughes will be featured.

The concert will feature the world premiere of Mark Harvey’s piece Sumner, written in honor of his ancestor Charles Sumner (1811-1874), the United States senator and distinguished statesman from Massachusetts who was a tireless advocate of freedom and equal rights for African Americans. Another highlight will be Harvey’s piece SQCPi, written for the MIT Sesquicentennial. MIT was founded on April 10, 1861, two days before the outbreak of the Civil War, a time when Sumner would be especially prominent as a champion for African Americans. Other Mark Harvey originals will include Peace Soundings (evoking Civil War-era tunes in a contemporary setting) and Soul on Soul, a tribute to Mary Lou Williams, the First Lady of Jazz. Rounding out the program will be Duke Ellington’s Freedom and his modern spiritual Come Sunday.

With global distribution of 10 CDs and wide-ranging performances in festivals, clubs, concert halls, colleges and universities, The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra has been a major force in the international jazz scene for almost 40 years. Winner of the 2000 Independent Music Awards, the band is known for its exhilarating concerts spanning the jazz spectrum, from original works by founder/music director Mark Harvey to the music of Duke Ellington and other jazz greats to performances with film, dance, and poetry. Now in its 38th season, Aardvark has premiered more than 120 works for jazz orchestra and has released 10 CDs to rave reviews around the globe, including 5 discs on the prestigious Leo Records label. The band’s latest release, American Agonistes was hailed as “a stunning hour of music that is in turn beautiful, poignant and raucous” (Billboard.com). Guest artists who've appeared with Aardvark include Sheila Jordan, Jaki Byard, Jimmy Giuffre, Geri Allen, Jay Clayton, Walter Thompson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Rajesh Mehta, Paul Lovens, and Harvie Swartz

Music director Mark Harvey has performed as trumpeter in the U.S., Mexico and Europe; has recorded with George Russell (Blue Note) and Baird Hersey (Arista/Novus); and performed with Gil Evans, Claudio Roditi, Howard McGhee, Sam Rivers, Joe Carroll, Kenny Dorham and others. An internationally acclaimed composer with over 120 works in his catalogue, he has received awards and commissions from ASCAP, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the 15th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, the Organization of American Kodaly Educators, the MIT Wind Ensemble and Meet-the-Composer-Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program, among others. Commissions have featured such notables as Joe Lovano, Steve Turre, Herb Pomeroy and Ran Blake. Dr. Harvey teaches jazz studies at MIT.

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra is managed by Americas Musicworks