The next #JazzAtTheG concert will have a decidedly “island flavor”. And by “Island”, we mean the island of Manhattan and The US Virgin Islands. Our special guest is Grammy Award Winning drummer (and St. Thomas native) Dion Parson.

Parson’s musical foundation ranges from classical, jazz and pop to Reggae, calypso and African.  During a career that has spanned decades, he’s played with everyone from Milt Jackson and Terence Blanchard to Dianne Reeves and Freda Payne. Parson even did a stint on Broadway with the band for “The Color Purple”.

Of late, Dion Parson performs frequently with “The 21st Century Band”, an ensemble he co-founded with Ron Blake. The group is known for their mixture of traditional jazz harmonies fused with Caribbean rhythms. It’s referred to as “The New Sound of The Caribbean”.

Now a resident of the other island mentioned earlier (Manhattan), Parson is a committed music educator as well as performer. He’s taught at a variety of high schools, academies, colleges and workshops around the northeast and across the globe. 

That’s one of the reasons we are so excited that Dion Parson accepted the invite to be a guest artist at #JazzAtTheG  He’s agreed to do a FREE Master Class with area music students on Wednesday April 15th at 7pm. It takes place in room C1 of The Fine Arts Building on GRU's Summerville Campus. And the concert, itself, will feature Parson performing with The GRU Jazz Ensemble.

Here are the particulars:  

#JazzAtTheG

Date:  Thursday April 16, 2015

Time: 7:30pm

Location:  Maxwell Performing Arts Theater on GRU’s Summerville Campus in Augusta

Tickets:  Available at The Maxwell PAT box office, and at GRU.EDU/MaxwellTheatre

General Public: $5
GRU students, faculty and staff: free with valid JagCard​

A special “thank you” to our “Jazz At The G” partners: The Greater Augusta Arts Council, Garden City Jazz, and GRU Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre.

Dion Parson

Dion Parson