PHOENIX JAZZ PROJECT PERFORMS AT STIFEL FINE ARTS CENTER

WHEELING, W.Va (November 2, 2009)- -Oglebay Institute’s Jazz at the Stifel series, proudly sponsored by Dinsmore and Shohl, LLP, continues with The Phoenix Jazz Project, featuring Curtis Johnson at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 14 at the Stifel Fine Arts Center in Wheeling.

Based out of Pittsburgh, The Phoenix Jazz Project is dedicated to originality and creativity. Traditional jazz is the basis for most of the sextet’s music, but the group prides itself in creating and performing good music regardless of genre. From the traditional styles of originals "Halfway Out" and "Billy or Bud" to the modernized arrangements of classics "If I Only Had a Brain" and "Softly As a Morning Sunrise," The Phoenix Jazz Project provides a wide variety of entertaining music.

The group’s repertoire includes jazz standards, modernized arrangements of classics and original songs. With musical influences ranging from Herbie Hancock to John Coltrane, Earth, Wind and Fire and Ella Fitzgerald, the Phoenix Jazz Project performs its material with excellence and creativity.

The Phoenix Jazz Project has wowed audiences from Pittsburgh to Prague. A tour to Eastern Europe, including Budapest's Cotton Club and Vienna's Jazzland, produced standing ovations and rave reviews. That tour also included stops in Prague, Czech Republic, Bratislava, Slovakia and Krakow, Poland where the band performed and conducted clinics. A tour to Belgium yielded more performances, clinics, and standing ovations. This Pittsburgh band has fans and music critics raving about their “New York Sound.” In 2008, the band released a collaboration CD with The Traverser Saxophone Quartet titled “When Lights Are Low.”

The Phoenix Jazz Project features legendary saxophonist Curtis Johnson, whose musical career includes performing with famed artists Little Anthony, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawles, Isaac Hayes, The Temptations, Patti LaBelle, Frankie Vallie, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Charles and Maynard Ferguson.

Other members of the Phoenix Jazz Project include accomplished musicians Tom Glovier on piano, Jessie Glovier on vocals, Jason Birch on drums, Robert Insko on bass and Michael Sakash on saxophone.

Don’t miss your chance to see The Phoenix Jazz Project at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 14 at the Stifel Fine Arts Center, 1330 National Road in Wheeling. Admission is $20. Call the Stifel Center at 304.242.7700 to purchase tickets. Refreshments are available for purchase at all shows, and parking is free and available just behind the center.

The entire 2009-2010 Jazz at the Stifel line-up, which is proudly sponsored by Dinsmore and Shohl, LLP is as follows:

November 14, 2009 The Phoenix Jazz Project with Curtis Johnson
January 9, 2010 Boilermaker Jazz Band
February 13, 2010 Catch 22
March 13, 2010 Trio Bravo

These programs are made possible through the generous support of the members of the Institute as well as with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.