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Release Date: 
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

HFCC Presents Spring Jazz Concert

The Henry Ford Community College Fine Arts and Fitness Division will present the Spring Jazz Concert on Saturday, May 2 at 8 p.m. in HFCC’s Adray Auditorium, located in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center on HFCC’s main campus at 5101 Evergreen Rd. in Dearborn. Tickets for the event are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at the door, or can be reserved by contacting Rich Goward at rgoward@hfc.edu.

The concert will feature performances by the HFCC Big Band, Blue Fusion, Midnight Blue and Studio 110. The HFCC Big Band has played in more than 950 concerts, dances and convention performances since 1983. Twenty-two student musicians from the Big Band and Midnight Blue vocal jazz ensemble recently played at Michigan’s inaugural ball in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president. The Big Band also played the inauguration balls in 2001 and 2005. The Big Band is the only band, professional or amateur, to appear at the Detroit Jazz Festival for 26 consecutive years. The Big Band also appeared at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in 1992 and 1989, and at many international jazz festivals. The Big Band is under the direction of Dearborn resident Rick Goward. Midnight Blue, a vocal jazz ensemble, is under the direction of G. Kevin Dewey of Dearborn, HFCC’s vocal music director. Midnight Blue joined with the HFCC Big Band at the 2005 and 2009 Presidential Inaugural celebrations in Washington, D.C and has performed several times at the Detroit Jazz Festival with the Big Band.

Under the direction of HFCC music instructor Randall Knight of Canton, the Studio 110 Jazz Orchestra performs a wide selection of jazz favorites at many Detroit-area events. Studio 110, whose members range from recent high school graduates to retirees, often shares the stage with Blue Fusion, and the two groups have traveled to Chicago for a concert tour.

Blue Fusion, directed by Dewey, performs a variety of classic and contemporary vocal jazz, featuring a cappella and accompanied selections.

For more information, please contact Rick Goward at (313) 845-9699 or rgoward@hfcc.edu.

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