“Jazz At The G” is going to be hot, cool and Caribbean - this Thursday, April 16th.

Our special guest is Grammy Award winning drummer Dion Parson, a native of St. Thomas, USVI. He’ll be performing  Caribbean Flavored Jazz  with The GRU Jazz Ensemble, a vibrant group of student artists from the Georgia Regents University Music Department. Parson’s musical foundation ranges from classical, jazz and pop to Reggae, calypso and African. During a career that's 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 movie “The Color Purple”.

Parson became life-long friends with Augusta native & jazz icon Wycliffe Gordon when they played together in The McDonalds All American Band in the mid-80s.

And the friendship between Parsons & Gordon is great news for jazz fans, as Wycliffe has accepted Dion’s invitation to perform at Thursday’s show!

Dion Parson performs frequently with The 21st Century Band, an ensemble he co-founded. The group is known for their mixture of traditional jazz harmonies fused with Caribbean rhythms--a style that's come to be known at The New Sound of The Caribbean.

Now a resident NYC, 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 country and across the globe.

While in Augusta for #JazzAtTheG, Parson will conduct a FREE Master Class for area musicians and music students. The class is Wednesday evening (4/15) at 7pm in Room C1 of The Fine Arts Center on GRU’s Summerville Campus. The Jazz concert takes place next door the following night in The Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre.

Here are the particulars:

Event: Jazz At The G featuring Dion Parson & GRU Jazz Ensemble with special guest, Wycliffe Gordon

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

Jazz At The G is a production of GPB Augusta, with support from The Greater Augusta Arts Council, Garden City Jazz, and Georgia Regents University.

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