Jazz Ensemble to host saxophonist Dave Finucane in concert

The UNC Charlotte Jazz Ensemble will host special guest artist Dave Finucane, tenor saxophone, in concert on Tuesday, April 28, in the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts, Belk Theater.

Finucane is director of the Durham Jazz Workshop/Sharp 9 Gallery, a community-based jazz performance and teaching venue; he also teaches saxophone at UNC Chapel Hill and jazz improvisation at Duke University. He performs with Scott Sawyer’s Quartet and has performed with George Russell’s Living Time Orchestra, Gunther Schuller, Orange Then Blue, John Hart, Jonathan Kreisberg and Shunzo Ono. He has recorded one CD as a leader, Valerie’s Song (2006), and can be heard on 11 other recordings, including Scott Sawyer’s latest release, Dreamers; Jim Ketch’s A Distant View; and a UNC Chapel Hill Jazz Faculty recording due out the summer of 2015. From 2000-2005, Finucane directed One Station Plaza, a performance/teaching venue in Peekskill, NY. He is a graduate of New England Conservatory.

“Dave is one of the most creative and proficient saxophone players around. And I mean anywhere, not just in North Carolina,” said Will Campbell, director of the Jazz Ensemble. “I am amazed every time I hear him perform. Our students and the audience are in for a wonderful treat.”

The April 28 program features big band compositions from the swing era to contemporary styles, including “Shiny Stockings,” by Frank Foster; “All My Yesterdays,” by Thad Jones; Victor Young’s “Beautiful Love;” Joe Henderson’s “Jinrikisha;” and “Both of Them,” by Will Campbell.

The concert begins at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $6 general admission; $5 for seniors and UNC Charlotte faculty and staff; $4 for all students.