Irvin Mayfield & The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra celebrate the music of the Big Easy

Irvin Mayfield & The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra celebrate the music of the Big Easy

Irvin Mayfield & The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) will end a 12-city tour with an exciting final show at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 22. In addition to Mayfield on trumpet, the 18-piece Orchestra includes such respected musicians as Victor Atkins on piano and Ed “Sweetbread” Petersen on saxophone.

Tickets are $45, $40 and $35. For tickets, visit www.quickcenter.com or call the Box Office at (203) 254-4010 or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). This performance is sponsored, in part, by Sheaffer and The Westport Inn.

Jazz music was born in the city of New Orleans, and NOJO shares this tradition throughout the country. NOJO has headlined all of America’s major performing arts venues and clubs, including the world-famous Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, The Chicago Theatre, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, The Dakota Club in Minneapolis and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. In August, NOJO makes its debut at the iconic Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.

“It is a pleasure and an honor to share the legacy of New Orleans with music lovers across the nation,” said Mayfield, founder, artistic director, trumpeter and cultural ambassador. “We hope to not just offer a great performance, but to present a memorable musical experience that gives attendees more than a taste of the sounds and spirit of the Big Easy.”

Mayfield, 37, is a Grammy and Billboard Award-winning artist with 15 albums to his credit. Mayfield is the founding artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and currently serves as artistic director of jazz at the Minnesota Orchestra. He is a professor at the University of New Orleans, where he also serves as director of the New Orleans Jazz Institute. In 2009, Mayfield entered into a historic partnership with the Royal Sonesta Hotel and created Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, which brought “jazz back to Bourbon Street” in the historic French Quarter. Mayfield was nominated to the National Council on the Arts by President George W. Bush and was subsequently appointed to the post by President Barack Obama in 2010. He also received The Chancellor’s Award from the University of New Orleans (the highest ranking award given to a professor) in 2010 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Dillard University in 2011. A passionate advocate for New Orleans and for the arts, Mayfield is chairman of the board for the Soledad O'Brien & Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation, as well as the New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture and History and he has served posts with many other city organizations.

Posted On: 02-11-2015 03:02 PM

Volume: 47 Number: 176