Missouri Valley College Jazz Festival Coming January 17

Marshall, Mo. (January 12, 2015) —  Missouri Valley College will host a Jazz Festival from 12:30-5 p.m., January 17 in the Eckilson-Mabee Theatre. The Festival will feature area junior high and high school jazz bands and a jazz improvisation clinic.

Groups from Grandview High School and Middle School, Grandview, Mo.; Raymore-Peculiar High School and Middle School, Raymore, Mo.; and Martin City Middle School, Kansas City, Mo. The Missouri Valley College Jazz Band will close the afternoon with performances featuring the festival judges.

The festival’s judges include Former MVC Instrumental Activities Director Garry Anders, and Ryan Adamsons, a performer, composer and educator from Chicago.

A native of Springfield, Virginia, Ryan Adamsons is currently a jazz graduate teaching assistant at the University of Missouri.  He comes to Missouri from Chicago where he was an active performer, composer and educator. He has received Bachelor of Science degrees in jazz studies and brass performance from the University of Akron in Ohio, and graduated with distinction from DePaul University in Chicago with a Master of Music concentrating in jazz composition. Adamsons has taught in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, California and Japan including extensive experience in drum corps. He serves as chairperson of the Jazz Education Network JENerations Committee, a group aimed at fostering young jazz musicians, composers and educators. Adamsons  plays Powell Signature Trumpets and Hammond Design mouthpieces exclusively.

Garry Anders, former director of instrumental activities at MVC, taught instrumental music in Missouri for 36 years. He taught middle and high school for thirty years and at the college level for six years. His teaching experience includes Fayette, Mo., Odessa, Mo., Grandview, Mo., and Missouri Valley College. While at Grandview, Anders' bands performed at conventions of the Missouri Band Masters, National Association for Music Education, Missouri Music Educators Association, International Association for Jazz Education, and the Midwest Clinic. His band also participated in the Essential Ellington Competition in 2007. Anders has presented clinics for Missouri Band Masters, Missouri Music Educators and the Midwest Clinic.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact Dr. Ron Montgomery, director of instrumental activities, at montgomeryr@moval.edu or 660-831-4222.

(Courtesy of Missouri Valley College)