Governor's mission to China, March-April 2008
Video
Videos by Ben Leathers
Pictures
UGA Jazz Ensemble at the entrance to the Great Wall of China (l-r): Dennis Baraw (bass), Taylor Kennedy (tenor saxophone), Lindsay Aleshire (alto saxophone), Adam Courson (trumpet), Andrei Mihailovic (guitar), Elijah Carter (baritone saxophone), Spencer Smith (drums), Velma Page (vocals), John Behizadeh (trumpet), Janelle Clinton (drums), Marc Gilley (tenor saxophone), Alan Hamm (bass trombone), Tommy Cox (trombone), Alex Rogers (trumpet), Glynn Segars (trumpet), Bret Pimentel (alto saxophone), George Cone (trombone), Jon Sparks (trumpet), Steve Dancz (director, piano).
Baritone saxophonist Elijah Carter, in front of the Great Wall.
Elijah Carter, Tommy Cox, Alan Hamm, Taylor Kennedy, Bret Pimentel, Director Steve Dancz, Andre Mihailovic, Spencer Smith, Dennis Baraw.
Janelle Clinton, Velma Page, Lindsay Aleshire.
Spencer Smith, Taylor Kennedy, Dennis Baraw, Andrei Mihailovic, Elijah Carter.
Jon Sparks and Janelle Clinton.
Linsday Aleshire, Alan Hamm, Tommy Cox, Marc Gilley, Director Steve Dancz.
Trombonists George Cone and Tommy Cox prepare for rehearsal in the Beijing Ritz-Carlton.
Trumpet players Jon Sparks and John Behizadeh perform.
A brush with celebrity (back): Taylor Kennedy, Spencer Smith, Adam Courson, Andrei Mihailovic; (front): Velma Page, Dennis Baraw, Jackie Chan (no kidding!), Glynn Segars.
The band takes a tour of Tsinghua University, by most accounts the best-regarded university in China. Unlike the Arch at UGA, it's considered good luck to walk through the Tsinghua Old Gate.
Saxophonists Marc Gilley and Bret Pimentel with Tsinghua University students. There are no music courses at Tsinghua, but we met several students who are members of a concert band, a student organization.
Marc Gilley explains the finer points of saxophone playing.
Elijah Carter, Governor Sonny Perdue, and Alan Hamm at Tsinghua University.
Lead trumpet player Adam Courson and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue at a Georgia delegate reception.
A few of us sat in with the house band at the Ritz-Carlton: Bret Pimentel, Ritz-Carlton pianist, Marc Gilley, Dennis Baraw, Ritz-Carlton bassist; Andrei Mihailovic (seated).
Event publicity
UGA Jazz Band goes to China
Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Jazz Band, under the direction of Steve Dancz, has been invited to accompany Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue to China for the opening of Georgia’s Economic Development Office in Beijing. The 18 UGA students will perform at the gala opening celebration, which will include the U.S. Ambassador to China and numerous Chinese government, business, and Olympic officials. The UGA students also will participate in a program with the governor at Tsinghua University, the premier educational institution in China. The group will leave Atlanta on March 31 and will return on April 5.
Media are invited to attend the Jazz Band’s sendoff concert on Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m. in Ramsey Hall in the UGA Performing Arts Center.
Dancz is the academic director of the Music Business Program, a joint program of the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music and the Terry College of Business, and he is director of the Jazz Studies Program at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. For more information, see www.music.uga.edu, www.uga.edu/~jazz, or www.terry.uga.edu/musicbusiness.