Jimmy Heath Quartet November 20, 2008

Schwab Auditorium

Tenor saxophonist, composer, and teacher Jimmy Heath—a living legend of jazz—has collaborated with a who’s who of great American musicians during his six-decade career. In 1948, when he was 21, Heath performed with Howard McGhee, one of the first bebop trumpeters, at the inaugural International Jazz Festival in Paris. Heath has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Wynton Marsalis, and many others. A Philadelphia native, Heath has performed on more than 125 albums, including ten as a bandleader and eight with the Heath Brothers—the combo that included his older brother Percy on bass and younger sibling Tootie on drums. He has also written more than 100 compositions, many of which have become standards recorded by everyone from Cannonball Adderly and Chet Baker to Ray Charles and Dexter Gordon. In addition, he has composed three suites, two string quartets, and a symphonic work. For ten years Heath was a professor at Queens College City University of New York, where a chair was established in his honor. He has also taught jazz studies at New School University and other New York City colleges, as well as conducted workshops and clinics throughout North America and Europe.

Official Website: http://www.cpa.psu.edu