Wynton Marsalis Performs At Feel The Beat: A Concert for CPR Awareness October 1, 2006

New York, NY—A line-up of jazz and classical greats including Wynton Marsalis, Mark O’Connor’s Appalachian Waltz Trio, Ted Nash and Odeon, Wycliffe Gordon and special guests will perform at Feel The Beat: A Concert for CPR Awareness. A benefit concert to raise funds for the Feel the Beat School Program, which teaches high school students life-saving CPR technique, The event will take place on Sunday, October 1 at 12:00 Noon at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will proclaim October 1 CPR Awareness Day of NYC.
Feel The Beat will be hosted by popular comedian Clayton Fletcher and radio personality, concert organizer, singer and Feel The Beat School Program founder Yola Nash. Nash, who was trained in CPR in her native Poland, made headlines in 2004 when, while acting as an emcee at a summer concert festival, she saved the life of a performer who suffered a sudden heart attack while onstage. That harrowing experience inspired Yola to start the non-profit Feel The Beat School Program.

Tickets to the Feel The Beat benefit concert are $45, $65 and $100 and available through TicketWeb at www.ticketweb.com or 1-866-468-7619 The Tribeca Performing Arts Center is located at 199 Chambers Street #110SC. For press passes to the show, please contact Eva Dilmanian at 646.654.9324 or [email protected].

Artist Bios

Wynton Marsalis
Multi-Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis has been described as the most outstanding jazz musician and trumpeter of his generation, one of the world's top classical trumpeters, a brilliant composer, a devoted advocate for the arts and a tireless and inspiring educator. He became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize in music, for his epic oratorio on the subject of slavery, Blood on the Fields.

Mark O’Connor’s Appalachian Waltz Trio
Violinist/composer/fiddler Mark O'Connor is widely recognized as one of the most gifted contemporary composers in America and surely one of the brightest talents of his generation. A Grammy award winner, O'Connor formed a new chamber ensemble, the Appalachia Waltz Trio, which performs repertoire O'Connor created for his “Appalachia Waltz” and “Appalachian Journey” recording projects.

Ted Nash and Odeon
Best known for his associations with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Composers Collective, and his own inventive groups, composer and multi-instrumentalist Ted Nash enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from both critics and audiences worldwide. His band, Odeon, includes Bill Schimmel (accordion), Wycliffe Gordon (tuba and trombone, and Matt Wilson (drums).

Wycliffe Gordon
Wycliffe Gordon, critically acclaimed as an extraordinary trombone player, composer, and arranger, tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. His trombone playing, hailed as "mixing powerful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies," Gordon’s musical prowess has been captured on numerous recordings, including nine solo CDs.

Clayton Fletcher
Clayton Fletcher has performed all over the United States and Caribbean. Named "Best New Comic" by Boston Comedy Club and a finalist in the Connecticut Comedy Festival, Fletcher presents a unique perspective on the world around us in a smart, provocative, sarcastic, and hilarious way. He has appeared on such television shows as “Sex and the City,” “Ricki Lake,” ”Ananda Lewis” and on “MTV’s New Year’s Eve Party.”

Funds raised by Feel The Beat will support the operating budget for a unique educational and artistic program which teaches high school students CPR. Incorporating CPR demonstrations and live music into a traveling assembly program, the Feel The Beat School Program empowers young people in life-saving skills. The program has been initiated in high schools in the greater New York area with plans to expand to all fifty states.