Oktoberfest jazz Friday night at WCSU

Western Connecticut State University will celebrate the season with Oktoberfest Jazz at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct 27, in the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall of the Visual and Performing Arts Center on the university's Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. The group Frankensax will be led by Andrew Beals, and the Jazz Orchestra will be led by Jimmy Greene. Greene also will act as MC for the event.

Tickets are on sale for $6 at HERE. The public is invited.

The WCSU Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble consisting of student musicians, will perform big band classics from the Thad Jones, Jim McNeely and Duke Pearson libraries under the lead of the coordinator of Jazz Studies, Greene. Greene has released eight studio albums, the most recent of which, "Beautiful Life," received his first Grammy Award nomination. An original composition of Greene's will be performed during the concert.

Beals, an adjunct music instructor at WCSU, will perform with members of his group Frankensax, which is modeled after the 1972 Grammy Award-winning group Supersax. Beals is known for his skill with the saxophone and is often compared with other greats such as: Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Red Holloway, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Harold Vick and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Frankensax's program will include: "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit" by McCoy Tyner, "Manteca" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Bongo Beep" by Charlie Parker and "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane.

For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.