Annual Pitt Jazz Ensemble Concert to Feature Nationally Renowned Artists—Trumpeter Mike Mossman and Saxophonist Antonio Hart

PITTSBURGH—Members of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble will share the stage with nationally renowned jazz greats Mike Mossman and Antonio Hart at its annual spring concert. The event, called "The New Generation in Jazz," will take place at

8 p.m. April 1 in the Assembly Room of the William Pitt Union (WPU), 3959 Fifth Ave., Oakland. Tickets, available at the WPU box office, are $10 for the general public and $5 for students and senior citizens. For additional information, call

412-624-4187.

Mossman and Hart will be accompanied by local musicians as well as members of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble, a student organization under the direction of Nathan Davis, director of Pitt's Jazz Studies Program.

Mossman, a Philadelphia-born trumpeter with a wide range, has been active on the international jazz scene since he was 17 years old. His group, Metaphysical Mambos, has recorded a new CD, Orisha Suite, on the Connector label. He has toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Gerry Mulligan, and many others. He is sought after as a composer and arranger in Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz, and has performed classical pieces with symphony orchestras around the country. Mossman is professor and director of jazz studies at the Aaron Copeland School of Music at Queens College in New York City.

Hart had an interest in learning the alto saxophone since he was in elementary school. Trained at the Baltimore School of the Arts and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Hart first toured the world with classmate Roy Hargrove and received rave reviews. He has performed and recorded with Slide Hampton, Nancy Wilson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and others. His group, the Antonio Hart Quintet, has recorded several CDs. One of them, Here I Stand (Impulse) contains a selection, "Community," which was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Hart is professor of woodwinds at Queens College.

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3/17/04/tmw