Clarksville Community Concert Association preents the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet

Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet offers rare treat

Clarksville, TN – The 51st Mid-South Jazz Festival features the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet Saturday, March 31st at 7:30pm on the campus of Austin Peay State University in the Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall.

This culminates the 2011-12 Clarksville Community Concert Association (CCCA) season and promises to be an exceptional evening of music for Clarksville audiences and jazz lovers.

From a young age it was clear that Jason Marsalis had what it took to be great. Jason is the son of pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis and his wife Dolores, and the youngest sibling of Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo. Together, the four brothers and Ellis comprise New Orleans’s venerable first family of jazz.

Starting out primarily as a drummer, Jason Marsalis drew wide-spread acclaim for his unique interpretations of modern jazz with such groups as the Ellis Marsalis trio and Marcus Roberts trio. However, with the release of 2008’s “Music Update,” listeners began to recognize Marsalis for his unique sound on the vibraphones.

Since 2000, Marsalis has been a mainstay on the New Orleans scene as a bandleader from the vibraphone chair. These groups have performed at Snug Harbor, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, The Jazz Playhouse, and The Satchmo Summerfest. Marsalis has also appeared at many of the foremost jazz venues through the US and Canada, and has toured Europe on the summer festival scene.

Described as “powerful” and “prodigal,” Marsalis as a vibraphonist was touted by the New York Times as “an excellent musician” producing “records that are always worth hearing.” The Chicago Tribune exclaimed, “Those who value serious musicianship, sensitive phrasemaking and thoroughly idiomatic performances of a broad span of repertoire will find [his] work deeply satisfying.”

The Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet includes three musicians that have worked with Marsalis in varying capacities through their working relationship with Marcus Roberts. They are Austin Johnson, piano; David Potter, drums; and Will Goble, bass.

The Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet is sponsored by the Clarksville Community Concert Association with the support of the Austin Peay State University Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, The Leaf Chronicle, and the Clarksville Arts and Heritage Development Council.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.clarksvillemusic.org or by phone at 931.552.6093. Tickets to this event are $25.00 for adults and $5.00 for non-APSU students. APSU students with ID gain free admittance.