27th HCC Jazz Festival
Acclaimed jazz vocalist Dominique Eade guest performer
The annual Holyoke Community College Jazz Festival returns for its 27th year on Friday, March 27, with American vocalist and composer Dominique Eade joining the Amherst Jazz Orchestra and members of the HCC jazz faculty for a big band concert.
The Friday show begins at 8 p.m. in HCC’s Leslie Phillips Theater in the Fine & Performing Arts building on the main HCC campus, 303 Homestead Ave.
The concert is $10 for the general public and free for HCC students, faculty and staff.
“I met Eade at the Jazz in July program at UMass that I teach at every summer and enjoyed her singing and educational approach very much,” said HCC music professor Bob Ferrier, the HCC Jazz Festival organizer. “She's great and highly regarded for her vocal styling and improvisation.”
Led by trombonist David Sporny, the Amherst Jazz Orchestra has been a mainstay of the HCC Jazz Festival since the first one in 1998.
On Saturday, March 28, starting at 10 a.m., Eade and members of the HCC Jazz faculty will lead workshops, demonstrations, and jam sessions for area musicians. Participation is free and open to the public.
A critically acclaimed vocalist, composer, and long-time music educator, Eade has recorded and co-produced seven albums under her name, landing her on top 10 lists at Billboard, National Public Radio, Entertainment Weekly, DownBeat Magazine, and the Jazz Journalist Association.
After being signed to RCA Victor in 1998, she was nominated for Best Debut Artist for the First Annual Jazz Awards in New York City. She received the 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory, where, as a teacher for more than three decades, she mentored an array of talented musicians, including Roberta Gambarini, Michael Mayo, Rachel Price, Sofia Rei, and Jorge Roeder.
She has performed in clubs and at festivals all over the world, from New York’s The Blue Note and Los Angeles’s The Jazz Bakery to the Panama Jazz Festival and Buenos Aires Jazz Festival.
Noted for her vocal improvisations, The New York Times called Eade “an exceptional singer … who weighs a chanteuse’s coolness against a jazz musician’s exploratory instincts.”
For more information, please contact Bob Ferrier at 413-552-2480 or rferrier@hcc.edu or Mary Starzyk at 413-552-2485 or mstarzyk@hcc.edu.
To learn more about guest artist Dominique Eade, please go to: dominiqueeade.com
