A Jazz Celebration: Seven Bands, Fred Wesley under Kenney Polson direction.

Hosford as well as six other area bands will be performing from 6:30 - 9:00.
Funk and jazz artist Fred Wesley, most noted for his work with James Brown, will also be performing. Tickets cost $10 and 85% of any tickets being sold our jazz bands.

Mr. Polson needs help pushing ticket sales in order to buy t-shirts for the
band and to get a jump on a good set of vibes that will cost about $2000.

The Hosford Jazz Band is participating in Cleveland High School's Jazz Celebration on Friday, January 21st at 6:30.
Seven area bands (I am still trying to find out mor about these and will pass along any info I get) as well international trombonist Fred Wesley will be performing.

It promises to be an entertaining evening.


Tickets are only $10 for adults and will be sold both at the door and in advance from jazz band students. Advance student tickets are only $8.

The event is looking for business sponsorships. For $35, businesses can submit a business card sized ad and for $50 a half sheet ad (coupons are encouraged). The advertisements will be placed in the program brochure. For a $250 - $2000 sponsorship, your business will be named on the poster as well as receive a full page ad in the program.

This is a great way to spread the word about your business and to help a great tax deductible cause.

KENNY POLSON

Like many students, Kenney Polson started playing alto saxophone in junior high school (Bakersfield, CA). Enjoying music enough to pursue a career in it, Mr. Polson attended Fresno City College (Fresno, CA) and earned an Associate of Arts Degree in Music. Kenney attended California State University- Fresno and earned a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Music Education. He taught in Fresno, CA for 5 years and afterwards was hired as the instrumental music coordinator at an international school in Bogotá, Colombia for 2 years. Later, he became the instrumental music coordinator in a international school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for 5 years. Kenney left Brazil to earn a master Degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging at Howard University in Washington DC. After graduating, he taught in Beijing, China for one year. Returning to the states, he taught at Merced Community College for 2 years where he directed the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and the Jazz Ensemble. When he moved to the Portland area he began teaching at Marylhurst University teaching jazz improvisation, jazz arranging, and also directing the jazz ensemble. His first public school teaching assignment in Oregon was at the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy where he took a group of inexperienced musicians to new heights. They first place in several jazz competitions including the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho where they competed against over 20 other bands. Kenney's most recent teaching assignment is at Cleveland High School where he has brought the band program to prominence in the Portland area. The Jazz Band has numerous awards and has also performed with jazz great, Red Holloway.
During all this time, Kenney Polson performed extensively with his own bands as well as others. Kenney Polson has performed with the following national artists: Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Kenny Burrell, Phil Woods, David Sanborn, Frank Wes, Lee Garrett, Gil-Scott Heron, Philip Walker, James Moody, Bill Watrous, Little Richard, Betty Swan and others… He has traveled and performed in over 40 countries.
Kenney Polson’s first smooth jazz CD “Paradise” contains 14 selection, 9 of which were penned by Polson himself. More than half of the CD was recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with the nation’s top studio musicians. “No More Lonely Nights” from Paradise earned the number 32 spot on the national adult contemporary charts in 2001. Kenney’s second CD “Serendipity” is a blend of smooth jazz and old school R&B and it includes several national artists. The artists included on “Serendipity” are: Tom Grant (smooth jazz pioneer); Bruce Conte (formerly with Tower of Power); Michael Henderson (formerly with Miles Davis); Phil Upchurch (guitarist with George Benson); Larry Gittens (trumpeter with Kool & The Gang); Marcos Reyes (percussionist with WAR); and Fred Wesley (formerly with James Brown).
SOURCE: http://clevelandband.pps.k12.or.us/.docs/pg/10092

FRANK WESLEY

As the longtime musical director for soul legend James Brown's renowned backing unit the J.B's, trombonist Fred Wesley was the world's most famous sideman, orchestrating the sinuous grooves and contributing the bold, surgically precise solos that defined the language of funk. Born July 4, 1943, in Columbus, GA, Wesley was raised in Mobile, AL. At age three, he studied classical piano under his grandmother, a music teacher, but much preferred the big-band music played by his father, Fred Wesley, Sr., who also chaired the music department at Mobile Central High School. Wesley Jr. remained with the piano until middle school, first adopting the trumpet before moving to the trombone. He made his professional debut at age 12 in a big band led by his school's music teacher, E.B. Coleman, and soon was sitting in with local R&B acts as well. While studying music at Alabama State University, Wesley briefly tenured with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue as well as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters before serving in the U.S. Army, playing with the 55th Army Band and graduating from the Armed Forces School of Music. After returning from military duty in 1967, Wesley formed his own project, the Mastersound, fusing R&B with hard bop. The group splintered within a year, however, and when he received a phone call from J.B's trumpeter Waymon Reed, who told him Brown was seeking a new trombonist, Wesley accepted the offer.

He served as an adjunct professor of jazz studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

SOURCE: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/fred-wesley-p137093/biography