Saxophonist Rebecca Barry Featured at University of Mobile Jazz Night

Saxophonist Rebecca Barry, whose list of performance experiences includes names such as Paul McCartney, Wynton and Ellis Marsalis, Bill Watrous, Harry Connick, George Clinton, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, will be featured at the University of Mobile Jazz Night.

UM Jazz Night will be Monday, April 14 at 8 p.m. in Weaver Auditorium on the university campus. The event is free and showcases the UM Jazz Band under the direction of Donald Wolf, assistant professor of music and director of instrumental studies in the UM Center for Performing Arts.

The program will include a wide diversity of jazz forms, including pieces composed for or performed by the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and Brian Setzer, according to Wolf.

Jazz Night marks the beginning of a partnership between the university and the talented saxophonist. Barry will teach improvisation while serving as adjunct professor of jazz in the UM Center for Performing Arts beginning fall semester 2008.

The Fairhope, Ala., native holds a bachelor of music from Loyola University where she studied under sax teacher Tony Dagradi. She has a masters’ of music from University of New Orleans’ prestigious Jazz Studies program under the direction of Ellis Marsalis. She has taught at the University of New Orleans, Delgado Community College, and at Hypo Jazz Camp in Innsbruck Austria.

Her jazz discography includes the 2005 release “Rebecca Barry and the Heahunters,” the 2001 release "Line for Lion" co-written with Bill Huntington and 1999 release "And Then Some," among others.

Barry plays alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones; flute; and a Yahama Motif 8 keyboard.