The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra kicks off Pellissippi State’s spring 2023 concert series with a free performance Thursday, Feb. 16, with special guest trombonist Matt Niess of Washington, D.C.
The concert will be held at 7 p.m. in the Goins Building College Center on the college’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville. Please note that this spring’s concerts are not being held in the Clayton Performing Arts Center due to ongoing renovations.
The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra is an honors band under the direction of Knoxville Jazz Orchestra lead trombonist Tom Lundberg, who also is a music instructor at Pellissippi State. The band is open to high school students from across East Tennessee and is chosen by audition each fall. The 2022-2023 roster includes 17 students from Bearden, Central, Halls, West, Greeneville, Oak Ridge and Roane County high schools as well as Berean Christian and Concord Christian schools, both located in Knoxville.
“The KJYO explores the repertoire of outstanding jazz ensembles as well as the music of the Great American Songbook,” Lundberg explained. “The group offers students the opportunity to learn about and develop jazz improvisation skills.”
Matt Niess of Washington, D.C., a celebrated trombonist, will join the Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra at Pellissippi State on Thursday, Feb. 16.
The Knoxville Jazz Youth Orchestra will be joined Feb. 16 by Niess, an Edwards Trombonist and Summit label recording artist. Niess served in the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” as lead trombone with the Army Blues Jazz Ensemble and trombonist with the U.S. Army Brass Quintet. Niess is the founder and director of the Capitol Bones and the National Jazz Workshop, a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and director of Jazz Studies and professor of Trombone at Shenandoah Conservatory.
All Pellissippi State concerts are free and open to the public. For the full list of our spring 2023 concerts, including the venues where they will be held, visit www.pstcc.edu/arts. You can also watch recordings of our fall 2022 concert series on the website.
Lesli Bales-Sherrod does marketing and writing for Pellissippi State Community College.