"UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH JAZZ SEMINAR ALL-STARS " TO PERFORM AT GLOBAL MUSIC SUMMIT IN JORDAN

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 14 -- The "University of Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar All-Stars," under the direction of Nathan Davis, will perform for dignitaries from around the world as part of an international forum on music preservation in the new millennium. The event, under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Noor, will take place September 17 - 19, at the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan.

"The International Meeting on the Promotion of Local Music Heritage in the Age of Globalization" will feature concerts that represent a wide range of traditional music from all over the world. Accompanying Davis, head of Pitt's Jazz Studies Program, will be musicians Curtis Fuller, trombone; Johnny Griffin, saxophone; Curt Lightsey, piano; Bob Magnuson, bass; Idris Muhammad, drums; and Wallace Roney, trumpet. Most of these musicians have performed at the Pitt Jazz Seminar and Concert over that event's 30-year history.

Queen Noor will deliver the opening address, after which the "University of Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar All-Stars" will perform. In addition, the musicians will teach master classes, lecture, and lead discussions for conference participants and Conservatory students. Their second performance will take place the final day of the event, at the residence of the American Ambassador to Jordan, for more than 200 international guests.

An important element of the trip is Davis' ongoing effort to establish an official scholarship exchange program between Pitt and the University of Jordan, in which a student at each university would study at the other school for one semester. The American Ambassador to Jordan has arranged a working meeting for Davis and other parties to discuss that project.

The event in Amman aims to encourage and foster the preservation and documentation of local music heritage, to guarantee its transmission to future generations. Participants, including policy-makers, musicians, music experts, and producers, will discuss the impact of globalization on the music industry and seek to develop a two-way cultural communication so that music flows between and within developing countries—not only from industrial countries to poorer ones.

The event is organized in cooperation with the Vienna-based International Music Center, the Ford Foundation, the International Music Council, UNESCO, UNICEF-Jordan, the International Society for Music Educators, the Texaco Foundation, the Intermuse Performing Arts Bureau, the International Centre for African Music and Dance, and the Arab Academy of Music.

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