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Organist Rhoda Scott to Perform with William Paterson Jazz Orchestra on April 12

World-famous jazz organist Rhoda Scott will join the William Paterson University Jazz Orchestra for a special performance as part of the University’s spring Jazz Room Series on Sunday, April 12, 2015. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus.

Prior to the concert, Scott will be the guest for “Sittin’ In ,” an informal discussion about jazz, at 6:30 p.m. in Shea Center 101.  Admission is free to all Jazz Room ticket holders. Tickets are available in advance at the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371 or wp-presents.org for $15 general, $12 for senior citizens and William Paterson faculty, staff, and alumni, $8 for non-William Paterson students, and free for William Paterson students with valid I.D. There will be an additional $3 charge for tickets purchased on show day.

Scott will combine her talents with the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra to re-create her historic 1976 collaboration with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, In New York. This legendary recording featured an album’s worth of original arrangements by Thad Jones, many based on Scott’s original compositions. These long-lost arrangements were donated several years ago by Scott to the Thad Jones Archive at William Paterson University; the orchestra will play from those rarely heard manuscripts.

A native of Newark and a longtime resident of Paris resident, Scott is the daughter of a minister and learned to pay the organ in the churches where her father served. She later studied classical piano but concentrated on the organ and eventually earned a master’s degree in music theory from the Manhattan School of Music.  She moved to France in the late 1960s and is a regular on the European jazz and club circuit, where she has recorded numerous CDs.

Launched in 1978, the Jazz Room is one of the largest and most prestigious college-sponsored jazz events in the country. Performers include renowned professionals who encompass the complete spectrum of jazz, as well as William Paterson’s own student ensembles. The series has won numerous grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for its innovative programming. 

For more information call the University’s Shea Center at 973.720.2371 or visit wp-presents.org.