Contact: David West (west@alpha.nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

1/17/2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Two Northwestern State University alumni, Mike Williams and Ray Vasquez, will return to campus to perform with the NSU Jazz Orchestra in February. Vasquez will perform on Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. with Williams scheduled for the following evening at 7:30 p.m. Both concerts will be in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Vasquez is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota. He earned a bachelor's degree at NSU in 1994 and a master's at the University of North Texas.

In 1997, he won the Master's Division of the National Trumpet Competition. Vasquez was also chosen to be an associate member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the training orchestra for the Chicago Symphony.

Williams joined the Count Basie Band in 1987. He travels with the band approximately 30 weeks a year. The Count Basie Band has performed in all 50 states and 34 countries.

A 1980 graduate of NSU, Williams was a band director in Shreveport for three years and attended the University of North Texas before joining the Basie Band. Williams was also the lead trumpet with the Glenn Miller Band.

"Since I was in high school, I wanted to play the horn and now I get to do what I wanted to," said Williams. "The band is very good musically. Some of the musicians have been in the band longer than I have so we are tight."

Williams has performed with many legendary performers including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Lena Horne and Dizzy Gillespie.

"At the beginning I was in awe of those people. It was an honor to play with them," said Williams. "But then it took me years to get over being in the band."

Tickets are on sale at for a Feb. 6 concert featuring jazz legend Maynard Ferguson. The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. Ferguson will perform with his Big Bop Noveau Band. The NSU Jazz Orchestra will also perform. General admission tickets are $10. NSU students are admitted free.

Ferguson and his group draw on bebop, straight ahead jazz, funk, swing, classical and contemporary music to create a fresh sound within the classic big band form. His talents take Ferguson far beyond "trumpet player" as he is an accomplished instrument designer, record producer, composer, educator/clinician, symphonic guest artist and soundtrack artist. Ferguson is a three-time Grammy nominee and a consistent winner in the Down Beat and Playboy Jazz Poll.

The recording of "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky catapulted Ferguson onto the pop charts with a top 10 single, a gold album and one of his three Grammy nominations in 1978.

For more information, call (318) 357-4522.

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