Jazz Festival
Annual Jazz Concert
Each year at the end of January, the Music Department presents the annual University of Mary Jazz Festival – bringing hundreds of students from across the region to campus. Over the years, our ensembles have shared the stage with world-renowned guest artists, including Jeff Coffin, Don Ellis, Jon Faddis, Kevin Mahogany, Tom "Bones" Malone, Bob Mintzer, Terrell Stafford, Nestor Torez, Bill Watrous, Kenny Werner, and The New York Voices. Bringing artists to campus allows our student musicians the opportunity to perform alongside and learn from some of the world's best jazz performers and educators.
The University of Mary Jazz Festival was founded in 1974 by Ernie Borr. It has become an honored tradition for the University of Mary Music Department and the Bismarck/Mandan community. We invite the public to attend any of the participating schools' performances.
Annual Jazz Festival: January 31 & February 1, 2025
Jazz Fest Concert
Date: February 1, 2025
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Belle Mehus Auditorium
Cost: $15 - Available for purchase at Eckroth Music or at will call.
Mike Conrad, Piano
Mike Conrad is a composer and improviser currently serving as Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Northern Iowa. His compositions have earned him four ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, a SONIC Award from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers, the 2023 Sammy Nestico Award, and many other accolades.
Mike Conrad’s wide-ranging creative projects include his unique 15-piece group, the All Angles Orchestra (New Angle, 2017), the Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra (Fertile Soil Suite, 2021), a reimagination of Beethoven’s 3rd symphony in collaboration with the Berlin-based Stegreif Orchester (2019), and a 2022 trio album release entitled Reconnect. He records and performs regionally on piano and trombone with groups like Christopher Merz’s “Shorter Stories,” the Jon Ailabouni Quintet, Bob Washut’s “Emeritet,” the Max Wellman Big Band, and has also performed and recorded with musician such as Louis Hayes, Alexa Tarantino, and Greg Gisbert.
Conrad is in high demand as a clinician and guest director for jazz ensembles, having recently directed the Iowa All-State Jazz Band (4A) in 2023. He lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa with his wife Ashley and their daughter Madeline.
Rick Hirsch, Saxophone
Rick Hirsch writes, performs, and teaches music that makes people feel good! He apprenticed with Toshiko Akiyoshi and Bob Mintzer as a personal music copyist. He has since composed and arranged hundreds of works on commission for folks including jazz icons Yusef Lateef, the Yellowjackets, Tito Puente, and Eddie Henderson; the Capitol Quartet; and the storied Penn State Blue Band. His music for jazz ensemble and saxophone quartet is beloved worldwide by student, amateur, and professional musicians. As a saxophonist, Hirsch has performed with Max Roach, Clark Terry, Tito Puente, Phil Woods, John Riley, Andre Heyward, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Greg Johnson, Billy Test, Aaron Kimmel, and many others. Hirsch is also an inspiring educator with an active independent teaching studio and frequent appearances as a guest teaching artist.
Jeff Jarvis, Trumpet
Jeff Jarvis is an S.E. Shires trumpet artist and has served as Director of Jazz Studies at the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University Long Beach since 2005. He has composed and/or arranged over 175 published works for Kendor Music, Belwin Jazz, iJazz, and UNC Jazz Press.
Jeff co-authored The Jazz Educators Handbook with Doug Beach, The Chord Voicing Handbook with Matt Harris, and Effective Etudes for Jazz with Mike Carubia. As a conductor, Jarvis has led honors jazz ensembles in 39 states and 4 Canadian provinces. He is a past president of the California Alliance for Jazz and was music director of the Central New York Jazz Orchestra from 1998-2005. Jeff is a Gold Medal winner in the Global Music Awards, an international arts organization that honored him in 2019 for Lifetime Contributions to Jazz and Jazz Education.
Jeff’s solo recordings as a jazz trumpeter and composer have won critical acclaim and placed high on national air play charts. His early career as a studio trumpeter encompasses over 100 R&B and disco recordings for such names as Lou Rawls, Michael Jackson, and Melba Moore. Live performance credits include Van Morrison, Dizzy Gillespie, Doc Severinsen, and many more.
Pete James Johnson, Drummer & Composer
Pete James Johnson is a drummer and composer in the Twin Cities; he’s most often seen playing jazz and improvised music but is at home in a variety of musical worlds. He performs with local artists such as the Zacc Harris Group, Bryan Nichols, Javier Santiago, Omar Abdulkarim, Dosh, Michael Cain, Chris Bates’ Red 5, Will Kjeer, Barbara Cohen, Andrew Walesch, Nooky Jones, Adam Meckler, Aaron Hedenstrom, JazzMN Orchestra, Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Adam Bohanan. Additionally, Pete has also played with international artists such as the Bob Mintzer Big Band, Alan Broadbent, Russ Ferrante, Alex Hahn, Alan Pasqua, Bob Sheppard, and a 20-time Grammy-Winning producer: Al Schmitt.
As an educator, Pete has taught at The College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University, The University of Minnesota Morris, Hamline University, University of Southern California, and has served as a clinician and guest artist at Jazz Festivals around the Midwest.
As a composer and arranger, Pete primarily composes for television, film and media. He has composed music for the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games, NBC, FOX, Peacock, Amazon Prime, Netflix, MTV, USA, E!, national advertisements, and films.
Aric Schneller, Trombone & Vocal
Aric Schneller is in constant demand regionally and nationally as an expert clinician, dynamic soloist and conductor, master teacher, producer, and as an inventive composer and arranger. He has appeared at many conventions for state music educators associations, most notably at the Midwest Clinic. Now into his seventeenth year at Sam Houston State University, Aric is Professor of Music, Director of Jazz Studies, and founder and Artistic Director of the annual SHSU Bill Watrous Jazz Festival.
Aric is a former member of the Grammy-nominated University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band, and Down Beat magazine award-winning Two O’Clock Lab Band and Jazz Singers. Aric has worked and performed with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time.
Originally from Missoula, Montana, Aric holds a DMA in Trombone Performance from the University of North Texas, an MM in Vocal and Operatic Performance from Boston University, an MM in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, and a BM in Trombone Performance from the University of Montana. Aric is an active composer and arranger for Alfred Music Company and Belwin Jazz, and he is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Awards.
Christine Salerno, Vocal
Christine Salerno is a jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, arranger, and educator. She has performed extensively with her contemporary Brazilian jazz group, “ZIJI”; has traveled to Brazil, Slovakia, and multiple states in the US to perform and educate at universities and high schools; and has performed at countless venues with professional ensembles. Christine has produced three CDs of mostly original compositions: one with her husband, John Salerno, and two with “ZIJI”.
Christine is currently the Vocal Music Director at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay, WI. She will be resuming her long-held position at UW Green Bay this fall as the Director of Vocal Jazz. She has been an educator at Lawrence University, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach Community College, Western Michigan University, as well as at high schools in Michigan, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
