INFORMATION FOR
William Paterson University’s fall 2020 "Jazz Room at Home" series concludes with a performance by the young jazz vocalist Veronica Swift recorded live in Shea Center for broadcast online on Sunday, November 22 at 4 p.m.
The Jazz Room, now in its 43rd season, is virtual for fall 2020. Jazz fans can enjoy world-class jazz from the comfort of their home by viewing each concert on their computer, tablet, smart TV, or phone.
Veronica Swift is rapidly becoming one of the most in-demand vocalists in jazz. Recently named by Downbeat magazine as one of 25 young jazz artists to watch, she earned second prize in the 2015 Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition. Swift has performed at such jazz venues as Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, the Telluride Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Michael Feinstein’s, The Jazz Standard, the Blue Note, with SF Jazz, and at major jazz festivals internationally. Her main repertoire is American popular song classics and bebop, but she is also deeply connected to 1920s and 1930s tunes, as well as opera and rock. She also writes and acts in her own films produced by Darkstone Entertainment. She regularly tours with the Emmet Cohen Trio.
The concert will be preceded by “Sittin’ In,” the Jazz Room’s accompanying “meet the artist” concert preview featuring interviews with jazz artists and guest speakers. This informal discussion, free to all Jazz Room ticket-holders, begins at 3 p.m., one hour prior to each concert, and will be broadcast on the WP Presents! You Tube channel. Subscribe to the channel here. Submit questions in advance to: jazzroom@wpunj.edu.
Tickets are available at wp-presents.org. Ticket prices are “pay what you want” at $25, $20, $15 and $10 for the public, $8 for non-William Paterson students and the William Paterson community, and free to William Paterson students via a weekly code emailed by faculty. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For additional information, call the Shea Center for Performing Arts Box Office at 973-720-2371 or visit wp-presents.org.
William Paterson University’s Jazz Room series is the longest-running program of its kind in the United States. Launched in 1978, the Jazz Room has welcomed more than 500 jazz legends to the stage, including Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Joe Williams, Marian McPartland, Slide Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Clark Terry, Michael and Randy Brecker, the Vanguard Orchestra, and more. Concerts have encompassed the entire spectrum of jazz, from early jazz and swing to avant garde, and from intimate solo performances to big bands. The performance series provides support for the University’s internationally renowned Jazz Studies Program, founded in 1973, which draws students from across the United States and abroad under the current direction of pianist Bill Charlap.
The Jazz Room at William Paterson University has been made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
