Aardvark Jazz Continues 40th Season at MIT Cambridge, April 20 April 20, 2013

Hailed for “expansive harmony, brilliant music...discipline, openness, and freedom (CultureJazz.Fr, France) and praised for for “wit, imagination and sheer brio” (Jazz Review UK), The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, one of the longest running large jazz ensembles in North America, will continue its historic 40th season with a show called Echoes & Resonance on MIT's main stage at Kresge Auditorium, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Jazz at MIT. Free admission. Information: 617 452 3205.

In the April 20 show, Aardvark music director Mark Harvey will reprise two of his major MIT commissions: Beyond (written for the MIT Wind Ensemble and featuring Herb Pomeroy and Ran Blake in the premiere), and Saxophrenia (composed for the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, featuring Joe Lovano in the premiere). In addition, the concert will honor legendary musicians and their connections to Aardvark and MIT: Jaki Byard, who performed with Aardvark in 1986 in Kresge Auditorium, and Mercer Ellington, who lectured to Mark Harvey's classes at MIT and donated his arrangement of Moon Mist to the band. Also on tap: Harvey’s recent composition Boston Boy inspired by renowned jazz writer Nat Hentoff. Hentoff was a fledgling jazz announcer in Boston just as Herb Pomeroy, father of jazz at MIT, was beginning his illustrious career.

With global distribution of 11 CDs and wide-ranging performances in festivals, clubs, concert halls, colleges and universities, Aardvark has been a major force in the international jazz scene for 40 years. The band has premiered more than 150 works for jazz orchestra. Guest artists who have appeared with Aardvark include jazz luminaries Jaki Byard, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Giuffre, Geri Allen, Lewis Porter, Vinny Golia, Dominique Eade, Jay Clayton, Paul Lovens, Rajesh Mehta, Matt Savage and Walter Thompson.

Aardvark’s latest CD, Evocations (Leo Records), was named by The New York City Jazz Record as one of the magazine’s picks for Best of 2012.

Founder and music director Mark Harvey was honored by the City of Boston and the City of Cambridge, as both cities proclaimed January 30, 2013 Mark Sumner Harvey Day in recognition of his contributions to the arts, music education, and community outreach for 44 years.

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. A world-renowned composer, he has received awards and commissions from ASCAP, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the 15th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, 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 and composition at MIT. He is a founding board member of the nonprofit jazz advocacy organization JazzBoston.

Aardvark is: Arni Cheatham, Peter Bloom, Phil Scarff, Chris Rakowski, Dan Zupan/saxes & woodwinds; K.C. Dunbar, Jeanne Snodgrass, Taylor Ho Bynum/trumpets; Bob Pilkington, Jay Keyser/trombones; Jeff Marsanskis, Bill Lowe/bass trombones, tuba; Richard Nelson/guitar; John Funkhouser/string bass; Harry Wellott/drums; Jerry Edwards & Grace Hughes, vocalists; Mark Harvey/trumpet, music director.

Aardvark is managed exclusively by Americas Musicworks
Rebecca DeLamotte, director. Telephone: 617 776 8778.