BISMARCK, ND - Many of University of Mary's music alumni have gone on to make marvelous contributions to the world of jazz. Mary's 40th Annual Jazz Festival Friday, Jan. 25 through Saturday, Jan. 26, is a celebration of these great musicians and performers and their work.

The concert will be at 8 p.m. on Friday evening at the Bismarck Civic Center. General Admission is $12. Tickets are available at Lee's Hallmark (Kirkwood Mall), Eckroth Music and at the door. Doors open at 7p.m.

Mary welcomes back a stellar group of jazz alum to perform with current Vocal Jazz students and in big band numbers, as well as in a special Alum Guest Artist Combo.

"The Jazz Festival will be one to remember," commented Dr. Anthony Williams, director of Jazz Studies at Mary. "The festival lineup features many Mary alum returning to share their gifts with the university community. "Dave Lisik will be joining us from the University of New Zealand, along with Toronto-based musician/teacher John Pittman, Justin Binek from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and Terry Peffer who works as professional musician in the Twin Cities. Michael Land, piano, and Kerry Marsh, vocals, will also accompany our alum for the concert. Additional alum currently residing in the Bismarck-Mandan area will perform with the Alumni Combo."

The festival will welcome students from schools from across the region for adjudication performances that begin Friday in both Arno Gustin Hall and Matt and JoAnn Butler Hall in the Tharaldson School of Business. The public is invited to attend any of the participating schools' performances (doors are opened between schools performances).

"High school and middle schools will perform both Friday and Saturday on Mary's campus," added Williams. These groups will have the privilege of being adjudicated by our outstanding guest artists."

Media interested in attending should contact Tom Ackerman at (701) 355-8002.

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Dave Lisik
Canadian composer and trumpeter, Dr. David Lisik teaches jazz composition, arranging, theory and pedagogy at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, New Zealand. Lisik's diverse portfolio of compositions and arrangements includes 400+ works for large and small jazz, classical, and electroacoustic ensembles. Lisik has composed for, engineered, and produced 15 CDs for Rattle Records, New Zealand's premier art music label, and has three releases on the Galloping Cow Records label (USA).

Lisik's music has been performed and/or recorded on four continents by outstanding musicians including Alex Sipiagin, Tim Hagans, Donny McCaslin, Seamus Blake, Dick Oatts, Dave Kikoski, Bob Sheppard, Luis Bonilla, John Fedchock, Matt Wilson, Steve Houghton, Marvin Stamm, Bill Mays, Carl Allen, Kirk Whalum, The Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra (Australia), Colin Hay (Men at Work), Wellington Jazz Orchestra, and many professional, university, high school and middle school concert and jazz groups. His Memphis-based quintet has released two CDs: "Hurricane Ophelia," and "Bono in the Temple."

The Dave Lisik Orchestra, featuring Tim Hagans, released "Coming Through Slaughter - The Bolden Legend" in 2010, and has two new projects underway, "Origin of Species" and "Metropolis," featuring Alex Sipiagin, Bob Sheppard, Dick Oatts, Luis Bonilla, Donny McCaslin, John Fedchock, Tanya Darby and Matt Wilson. In New Zealand, Dave is artistic director and composer for the Didactic Glass New Music Ensemble, and composer/trumpeter in the Pawn Farm jazz quartet. His 60-minute electroacoustic threnody, "Donated by Cantor Fitzgerald" was selected for a 24-hour radio marathon of pieces written for the 10th anniversary of Sept.11, 2001, and broadcast from Princeton, NJ.

Before moving to New Zealand, Lisik was assistant professor of music and director of jazz studies at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, TN, and director of bands at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate in Winnipeg, Canada. He received degrees from the University of Memphis, University of Northern Iowa and the University of Mary.

John Pittman
Featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's mini series "One to Watch," Toronto-based trumpeter/composer/educator John Pittman is a rising talent on the Canadian music scene. His playing has been described as having a "wide dynamic and emotional range" consisting of ideas that are "very unique," even when performing within more traditional contexts.

In Toronto, Pittman can be heard regularly performing as a soloist with the Toronto Jazz Orchestra, lead player for The Chris Hunt Tentet, and splitting lead and solo work in the traditional salsa group Conjunto Lacalu.

Pittman has had the pleasure of performing and/or recording with artists such as Byron Stripling, Wycliffe Gordon, Slide Hampton, Steve Kirby, Alvin Atkinson, Marian McPartland, Bill Dobbins, Jeff Campbell, Peter Erskine, Rich Thompson, The Dave Rivello Ensemble, Moses Mayes, Greg Gatien and Papa Mambo. In addition, Pittman has had the opportunity to open for such varied artists as Herbie Hancock and Kool and The Gang.

Pittman is the winner of several arts grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and Manitoba Arts Council as well as the 2006 - 2007 Rayburn Wright Scholar and the 2007 Schirmer Prize winner for an outstanding performance major at the prestigious Eastman School of Music.

An active educator and clinician, Pittman has taught at the Eastman School of Music, University of Manitoba and Silver Heights Collegiate. He has also served as a clinician/adjudicator throughout Canada and the United States. He currently teaches instrumental music at The Sterling Hall School in Toronto, Ontario.

Terry Peffer
A 1989 graduate of Mandan High School, Terry Peffer earned undergraduate music degrees in instrumental music education and saxophone performance from the University of Mary in 1994 and a Masters of Music degree in saxophone performance at the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1997, where he was a graduate teaching assistant in the jazz studies area. He has toured and recorded with Nightlife and the Way Hot Horns, Trope label swing band Kings of Pleasure and performed with Tim Whitmer and the KC Express as the house band at the famous Kansas City jazz club "The Phoenix."

Other professional experiences include engagements with the Jay McShann Quintet, Claude "Fiddler" Williams Quintet, Kevin Mahogany, Karrin Allyson, Tom "Bones" Malone combo, and jazz organist Everette DeVan.

Peffer is the Twin Cities metro manager of the Eckroth Music Company stores in White Bear Lake, MN, and St. Louis Park, MN, and is a freelance musician in the local area and around the United States. He currently can be seen performing with Twin Cities groups the Century Jazz Ensemble; St. Croix Jazz Orchestra; The Good, Bad & Funky; and the R Factor.

His family includes his wife Nathalie, daughter Ereka (8), son Jason (5) and faithful dog Jazzy.

Justin Binek
Justin Binek is the head of Vocal Jazz Studies at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, where he directs the UArts Jazz Singers and Vox pop a cappella ensemble; teaches Jazz Improvisation, Advanced Piano and Accompanying, and Applied Voice; and serves as a voice department concert coordinator, accompanist and vocal coach. Under his direction, the UArts Jazz Singers performed at the 2008 International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference in Bologna, Italy; the ensemble has also given feature performances at the Berks Jazz Festival, Ohio Jazz Summit, and the Delaware Music Educators Association and New Jersey Music Educators Association Conferences. Binek has also helped UArts develop relationships with the Liverpool Institute of Music and the Projazz Escuela Internacional de Musica in Santiago, Chile.

Binek maintains a busy jazz and classical performing schedule as a singer, pianist, and clinician/adjudicator. He is an active arranger and composer whose works are published by Sound Music Publications. A contributing author to Diana Spradling's groundbreaking book, Jazz Singing: Artistry and Craft, Justin presented "The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Scat Singers" at the 2008 International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) annual conference in Toronto, Ontario, and at the 2008 ISME World Conference. He will also be presenting clinics at this year's Pennsylvania Choral Directors Association and Jazz Education Network conferences. Binek has been the director of the New Jersey Honors Jazz Choir since Fall 2007, and has directed numerous other state- and regional-level jazz and classical honor choirs. He serves on the faculty of the Halewynstichting Jazz Workshop in Dworp, Belgium, and the Pro Music Summer Camp in Tiffin, Ohio. Binek sings with the Philadelphia Big Band, and his quartet, featuring pianist Ewout Pierreux, bassist Jos Machtel, and drummer Toni Vitacolonna, plans to release the album "Songbook" in Winter 2012 - 2013.

Kerry Marsh
Kerry Marsh is a composer and arranger specializing in contemporary music for vocal jazz ensembles. In high demand as a commissioned arranger for many of the nation's top educational vocal and instrumental jazz ensembles, Marsh has a large and varied catalog of music performed regularly around the world. Marsh has published over 130 compositions and arrangments at KerryMarsh.com, and also has published arrangements through UNC Jazz Press and Sound Music Publications.

Along with his wife and musical collaborator Julia Dollison, Marsh released his highly ambitious debut album, "Vertical Voices: The Music of Maria Schneider," in March 2010 through ArtistShare. Endorsed by the Grammy-winning composer herself and funded largely through fan contributions, the album features Schneider's music as written for her jazz orchestra, but with the horn parts entirely sung, and the rhythm section consisting of Frank Kimbrough, Ben Monder, Jay Anderson and Clarence Penn (all current members of The Maria Schneider Orchestra). "Vertical Voices" was met with great critical praise, earning a four-star review in Down Beat Magazine. Dollison and Marsh perform regularly with the vocal quartet Vertical Voices LIVE, with Greg Jasperse and Jennifer Barnes. Vertical Voices LIVE performs the music of Schneider as well as Pat Metheny, Nando Lauria and more, including original compositions by the group.

Since 2003, Marsh has directed the vocal jazz ensembles at Sacramento State, and in that time, his ensembles and individual students have earned eleven Down Beat Magazine Student Music Awards, distinguishing it as one of the premier programs in the country during that timespan. The Sac State vocal jazz ensembles were invited twice to perform at conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education, and were one of 14 winners of a national search to have a song appear on the Epic Records release: "Ben Folds - College A Cappella." Marsh has since worked with Folds as a vocal arranger and background singers director in numerous performances with major symphony orchestras, including the Boston Pops and the Washington National Symphony.

Marsh is busy year-round as an adjudicator and clinician for jazz festivals and workshops, and he serves as a traveling clinician and high school honor vocal jazz ensemble director for the Monterey Jazz Festival. Marsh has directed all-state jazz choirs in California, Arizona, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, Illinois, New York, Maine and New Hampshire All State Jazz Choirs as well as the Nassau County (NY) Honor Jazz Choir.

Michael Land
Michael Land holds B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano performance from Lee University where he studied primarily with pianist Ning An. While at Lee, he was the recipient of the prestigious Presser Music Scholarship. As a soloist, Land has had success in competition. In the fall of 2006, he placed first in the Tennessee Music Teachers Association state-level competition. In 2007, he received the first prize in the Zelpha Wells Piano Competition held at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, AL. In spring of 2008, Land placed fourth in the Margaret A. Guthman competition in Atlanta, GA. Currently living in the Bismarck-Mandan area, Land teaches piano at Bismarck State College and jazz piano at the University of Mary. He is also active as a piano teacher, jazz musician, accompanist and church choir director.

Ensemble Directors
Dr. Tom Porter chairs the Department of Music at the University of Mary in addition to teaching theory, sacred music, conducting, and choral methods, and directing choral ensembles. He is a graduate of U-Mary, DePaul University, University of Notre Dame, and the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In addition to his duties at U-Mary, Porter directs the Bismarck-Mandan Civic Chorus. He is an avid composer and is published by GIA Publications, Heritage Music Press, Roger Dean Music, Alliance Publications, Laurel Press and Concordia Publications.

Dr. Anthony Williams joined the University of Mary Music Department in the fall of 2010. His responsibilities in the jazz studies area include directing the University of Mary Jazz Ensemble, teaching Jazz Pedagogy, and Improvisation. During his career he has had the pleasure of performing with artists and ensembles such as the Ray Charles Orchestra, Memphis Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of the Delta, Memphis Symphony, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Arkansas Symphony, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Natalie Cole, Slide Hampton, Rufus Reid, Clark Terry, Mulgrew Miller, and Donald Brown. Williams can be heard on recent recording projects by Dave Lisik and Ryan Middagh on their albums; "Coming Through Slaughter" and "To Somewhere and Back Again" and also on contemporary composer Jorge Sosa's January 2011 release "Plastic Time" performing the premiere of "Grosso" for solo trombone and electronics. Williams is a Conn/Selmer Artist-Clinician and plays Giddings and Webster mouthpieces.