UNC-Greeley Jazz Festival - April 21-23, 2022
What is the UNC-Greeley Jazz Festival?
The largest event of its kind in the nation, the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival brings together internationally recognized artists, jazz lovers, award-winning clinicians, and over 250 college, high school, and middle school big bands, combos, and vocal jazz groups. Each year, over 7,500 participants enjoy ensemble performances, educational clinics, main stage concerts and after-hours sessions.
The Festival is a non-competitive educational and cultural facet of the UNC Jazz Studies Program that furthers the University of Northern Colorado’s mission of lifelong learning and commitment to service.
Ensemble Performance Clinics
The 2022 UNC-Greeley Virtual Jazz Festival welcomes all levels from elementary school through college/university and semi-professional to perform, hosting a wide array of ensembles in a non-competitive environment. Groups may register in four categories: big bands, combos, vocal jazz groups, and vocal soloists. All groups will receive recorded comments and a feedback clinic from some of UNC’s artist/clinicians (college big bands receive recorded comments only). In past years, schools have traveled from Thailand, Washington, Texas, Maryland, Nevada, Iowa, Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Visit the UNC-Greeley Jazz Festival registration page for more information or to enroll your ensemble.
Ensemble Performance Schedule:
Thursday, 4/21: Vocal Groups
Friday, 4/22: K-12 Big Bands and Collegiate Combos
Saturday, 4/23: Collegiate Big Bands and Combos
See the full school performance schedule on the UNC-Greeley Jazz Festival event page.
Sit in on a clinic led by Grammy Award Winning drummer Gregg Bissonette 1 pm, April 22.
Educational Workshops/Clinics
During hour-long workshops presented by artists and UNC faculty, students, community members, and educators will have the opportunity to interact with nationally renowned clinicians through music making and the sharing of historical and technical information about the great art form of jazz. Workshops cover a variety of topics such as improvisation, solo jazz singing, arranging, jazz pedagogy, music business, rehearsal techniques, and instrumental techniques. Find the full list of workshops/clinics (including the date, time and location of each) on the UNC-Greeley Jazz Festival event page.
Main Stage Concerts
The UNC-Greeley Jazz Festival continues a tradition of featuring some of the most prominent names in jazz today. An important goal of the Festival is to bring artists to Colorado that are rarely or never heard in the region: 2021 marked NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis’ festival debut, 2017 was NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan’s first performance here, and in 2014 the Wayne Shorter Quartet and the Swingle Singers appeared at the festival for the first time ever.
This year performing on the main stage, Campus Commons Performance Hall (& Online):
Vocal Revolution: A Jazz & Gospel Remix
Sheila Jordan with UNC Jazz lab Band 1 & Kings Return
Thursday, 4/21
4:30pm & 7:30pm
Latin Jazz Explosion!
Bobby Sanabria with UNC Jazz Lab Band I & The Pedrito Martinez Group
Friday, 4/22
4:30pm & 7:30pm
The Zaremba Jazz Fellowship With Wayne Bergeron
Saturday, 4/23
4:30pm
After Hours Jam Session @ the Moxi
After the mainstage concert on Friday, head over to the Moxi Theater for an intimate After Hours Jam Session. Free and open to the public, seating is available on a first-come, first served basis and music starts at approximately 10:15pm.
History of The UNC Jazz Festival
“The success of UNC Jazz Studies is due in part to the pioneering work of Gene Aitken, who joined the faculty in 1976 and who expanded the existing program to include numerous big bands, instrumental and vocal combos, and vocal jazz ensembles. When Aitken first came to Greeley, the UNC Jazz Festival was a one-day event representing two or three local schools. Aitken launched a High School Invitational Jazz Festival in his first year at UNC, and a vocal jazz festival a few years later. These festivals were eventually melded into a single multi-day event. Aitken also united members of the community and the university to create the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival as we know it today.”
except from UNC/GREELEY JAZZ FESTIVAL (APRIL 21-23, 2016)
concert review by Thomas Cunniffe, March 5, 2019