Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Jazz leaders of the past, present and future will perform at 7:30 p.m. in W.M. Turner Auditorium on Thursday, Jan. 31, when the Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts presents the Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour as part of the 2007-2008 University Series.

The anniversary band brings together three generations of jazz masters: Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Moody on saxophone, Benny Green on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass, Kendrick Scott on drums and Nnenna Freelon as guest vocalist.

Monterey Jazz Festival general manager Tim Jackson said the group was assembled to "create a lasting legacy for our 50th anniversary" and to "carry the MJF name across America." The performers have each been associated with the festival on many occasions. Collectively, they have performed at the annual festival in Monterey, Calif., 28 times.

Nacogdoches is one of only two Texas stops on the band's 54-date, 22-state tour that began this month in California and will continue across the United Sates.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the music lovers of East Texas to hear live and in concert these icons of American jazz," said John Goodall, associate dean and director of programming and development for the SFA College of Fine Arts.

Trumpeter Terence Blanchard, a leading musician of his generation, won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Album and was nominated for four other Grammies and for the Grand Prix du Disque. He has written over 40 film scores, including Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever," "Malcolm X," "Inside Man" and "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts."

Saxophonist James Moody has been sharing his musical talent with audiences for over five decades. In the mid 1940s, he was a member of the bebop big band of Dizzy Gillespie, a decade later he had a huge hit with "Moody's Mood for Love," and in 1998, he received the Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pianist Benny Green was a key member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers at the age of 24 and has played with such artists as Freddie Hubbard, Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson. In 1993, Peterson chose him as the first recipient of the City of Toronto's Glenn Gould International Protétgé Prize in Music.

Bassist Derrick Hodge first came to acclaim by winning the Berklee College of Music's Outstanding Soloist Award in 1996 and 1997. He has gone on to perform and record with numerous artists including Blanchard, Mulgrew Miller, Kanye West, Clark Terry and Freddy Cole. He has also composed for artists such as Blanchard and Q-Tip.

Drummer Kendrick Scott began his relationship with MJF playing with the Berklee/Monterey Quartet and has gone on to perform with such artists as Blanchard, Kenny Garrett, Stefon Harris and Joe Lovano. He received the 1999 Clifford Brown/Stan Getz fellowships from the International Association for Jazz Education and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

Vocalist Nnenna Freelon is a six-time Grammy Award-nominee, her latest with "Bluepirnt of a Lady: Sketches of Billie Holiday," a 2005 release on the Concord label. She is the winner of the Eubie Blake Award and was twice nominated for the Lady of Soul Train Award.

For additional information on the Monterey Jazz Festival, please visit www.montereyjazzfestival.org.

The concert is sponsored in part by Lehmann Eye Center in Nacogdoches.

Tickets for the concert range from $35 to $17.50, with discounts available for seniors, students and youth, For tickets or more information, please visit www.sfasu.edu/finearts or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.