To support WP Presents arts education, accessibility, DEAI and cultural programming, please click to “Donate.”

Jazz Room Series

SummerJazzHeader

To receive up-to-date information about the Jazz Room Series and other performing arts programs at Shea Center, please join our mailing list.

Inaugurated in the spring of 1978, the Jazz Room Series is the longest-running campus-based jazz concert series in the nation. With a tradition of encompassing the complete spectrum of jazz from New Orleans to the avant-garde, it features world-class professionals and William Paterson student ensembles. There are three series of concerts each year, including the six-concert Fall and Spring Jazz Room Series, and the weeklong Summer Jazz Room held the third week of July.

The Jazz Room has received over two decades of continuous grant support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, as well as numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series has been featured on national and metropolitan-area media, including recorded broadcasts and live CD recording sessions.

The Jazz Room Series is directly connected to the William Paterson Jazz Studies Program. Unique among college and university programs, the Jazz Studies program is one of the few in the nation with an emphasis on small-group playing, improvisation, and a genuine commitment to the jazz tradition. Founded by music faculty member Martin Krivin and joined by trumpeter/arranger Thad Jones in 1973, the program was led by bassist Rufus Reid for twenty years, then by the great jazz pianists James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, and most recently Bill Charlap, who accepted the position in fall 2015. The program is co-led and coordinated by David Demsey. The artist/teacher faculty is made up of world-class New York area professionals.

The program is a true jazz environment in which students learn firsthand about the jazz world and the requirements for becoming a successful professional musician. Jazz majors come to William Paterson this year from twenty-six states and six foreign countries, including a number of Fulbright Scholars.

The University also presents the Summer Jazz Workshop for high school students. The University's Summer Jazz Workshop, active since 1994, is a week-long intensive program in late July, featuring classes, small-group rehearsals and performances, and clinics taught by William Paterson resident faculty and special guest clinicians.

William Paterson University is home to the Living Jazz Archive, which includes the personal music archive of legendary trumpeter and educator Clark Terry, as well as the archives of Thad Jones, James Williams and Michael Brecker. The Living Jazz Archive provides students, researchers, and visitors with the opportunity to explore original jazz manuscripts and other materials that are an important part of jazz history.

Grant Logos

WP Presents! and The Jazz Room Series events are made possible in part by a grant from the NJ Council on the Arts/Dept. of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

WBGOlogo02

Jazz Room Series Partner



  • Ken Peplowski Trio
    Sep 29, 2024 @ 3:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center Auditorium

    Saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Peplowski is truly one of the virtuoso woodwind players in jazz today, on the world’s jazz stages for many years but always coming up with fresh, new versions of the popular song and jazz standards that have made him so well known.  Peplowski’s early studies were with the legendary saxophonist Sonny Stitt, and his early touring was with the Teddy Wilson Trio and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra led by Buddy Morrow.  He has been a headliner at the Newport Jazz Festival, in Las Vegas venues, many European festivals, and has played soundtracks to numerous Woody Allen movies.  He has collaborated with Cedar Walton, Tom Harrell, Madonna, Steve Allen, James Moody, George Shearing, and many others. This drummerless trio presents Peplowski in an almost chamber music setting, in the style of such historic clarinetists as Benny Goodman, Buddy DeFranco and others. This concert promises to be a kickoff to the Fall 2024 Jazz Room season at the highest level!

    Ticket Prices: $20 General Public • $18 WP community & senior citizens • $10 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID

    Included with your ticket purchase, each Jazz Room concert is preceded by Sittin' In Meet-the-Artist, which takes place one hour prior to performances and gives audience members a unique opportunity to interact with the artist of the day.


     
  • Victor Wooten and The Wooten Brothers
    Oct 04, 2024 @ 8:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center for Performing Arts

    Victor, bass guitar/vocals; Joseph, keyboards/vocals; Roy, percussion/vocals; and Regi, guitars/vocals

    For over four decades the Wooten Brothers have been recognized as some of the most innovative musicians in existence and are collectively known as one of the most talented and dynamic band of brothers the world has ever known.

    Victor Wooten, a five-time Grammy Award-winning artist, has graced the cover of Bass Player Magazine five times. He is a founding member of the eclectic group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and is recognized as one of the greatest living bassists today often drawing comparisons to Jaco Pastorius, and was named one of the “Top ten bassist of all time” by Rolling Stone Magazine.

    Joseph Wooten has a dizzying list of talents that is impressive even by the Wooten clan’s standards, and he’s currently the keyboardist for the Steve Miller Band (since 1993).

    Roy “Futureman” Wooten, also a five-time Grammy Award winner, is best known for his masterful drumming and percussion skills and is a founding member Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Roy, a seasoned drum set player, is mostly known for his frenzied, inimitable on-stage performances heightened by his surreal choice of instruments: his trademark inventions “The Drumitar” and “RoyEl” keyboard.

    Regi Wooten’s signature guitar style of chording, slapping, tapping and frenzied strumming has earned him world-wide notoriety and comparisons to Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Chuck Berry.

    Together The Wooten Brothers bring an uncanny level of experience, originality, and musical expertise to the stage. Their shows will be a high-energy, super-funky, artistic blend of styles including original songs and classics. In short: these brothers are the real deal and their shows are not to be missed.


     
  • New York Voices Farewell Tour with the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra
    Nov 17, 2024 @ 3:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center Auditorium

    New York Voices are one of the world’s premiere vocal jazz quartets, ranging in style from great American song standards by Cole Porter and Al Jolson and bebop and big band jazz classics to Stevie Wonder, Latin jazz and pop, and world music.  As they approach their historic retirement as an ensemble in 2026, they have appeared and collaborated with The Count Basie Orchestra, Paquito D’Rivera, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. This performance will feature the NYV long-standing foursome (Kim Nazarian, Darmon Meader, Lauren Kinhan and Peter Eldridge) together with the powerful WP Jazz Orchestra performing musical director Darmon Meader’s wonderful arrangements, exactly as they have been featured on the New York Voices’ many hit CDs.

    Ticket Prices: $20 General Public • $18 WP community & senior citizens • $10 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID

    Included with your ticket purchase, each Jazz Room concert is preceded by Sittin' In Meet-the-Artist, which takes place one hour prior to performances and gives audience members a unique opportunity to interact with the artist of the day.


     
  • Vibraphonist Warren Wolf
    Nov 24, 2024 @ 3:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center Auditorium

    Vibraphonist Warren Wolf is one of the exciting new voices on his instrument, appearing regularly at such venues as Dizzy’s Club Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Village Vanguard, Keystone Korner in Baltimore, and on many European tours.  He has made ten albums, many for Mack Avenue Records, featuring such musicians Mulgrew Miller, Kendrick Scott, and Jeff “Tain” Watts; his most recent CD is a tribute to the legendary percussionist Chano Pozo.  He is a regular touring member of SF Jazz Collective and Christian McBride’s Inside Straight band.  He is also gaining wide recognition for his teaching and is a faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory.

    Ticket Prices: $20 General Public • $18 WP community & senior citizens • $10 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID

    Included with your ticket purchase, each Jazz Room concert is preceded by Sittin' In Meet-the-Artist, which takes place one hour prior to performances and gives audience members a unique opportunity to interact with the artist of the day.


     
  • Oscar Hernandez & Alma Libra
    Dec 08, 2024 @ 3:00 PM
    Location: Shea Center Auditorium

    Pianist, arranger, and producer Oscar Hernandez is the founder of the Harlem Jazz Orchestra, winner of Grammy awards in 2002 and 2005. He also serves as musical director to Ruben Blades and is a legendary performer in his own right who is involved in so many aspects of the music industry. Paul Simon asked Hernandez to arrange and produce the Broadway musical The Capeman where he was also music director and conductor.  He has been involved in other projects, including TV projects like Sex in the City and music for numerous commercials. Alma Libra’s recent CD is The Art of Latin Jazz, containing ten original compositions by Hernandez and featuring some of the biggest names in Latin jazz. Don’t miss this exciting showcase of Hernandez’s musicianship and vision!

    Ticket Prices: $20 General Public • $18 WP community & senior citizens • $10 Non-WP students • WP Students admitted free with ID

    Included with your ticket purchase, each Jazz Room concert is preceded by Sittin' In Meet-the-Artist, which takes place one hour prior to performances and gives audience members a unique opportunity to interact with the artist of the day.