“Vegas: Can You Say High Trumpet, Baby?” is the theme of the 2009 Tri-Cities Jazz Fest at ETSU on Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.
This year’s premier jazz event features Las Vegas lead trumpeters Tony Scodwell and Greg Wing, along with United States Air Force Heritage of America Band lead trumpet Chief Master Sgt. Jon Yates and special guest Lee Dise on bass trombone.
The ETSU Jazz Ensemble, Topalian Jazz Scholars and Jazz Combo will also perform during the popular showcase.
Wing is one of the nation’s outstanding trumpet artists, having played lead trumpet with the Buddy Rich Big Band, Paul Anka, Tom Jones, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas Hilton, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole and many others. His numerous classical performances include engagements with Andrea Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, and several orchestras, wind ensembles and brass bands.
The professor of trumpet at Morehead (Ky.) State University is also a Conn-Selmer Corp. Artist/Clinician for Vincent Bach Trumpets. Wing holds degrees in trumpet performance from Indiana University and Morehead, and taught at IU and The Nevada School of the Arts in Las Vegas before attaining his current post.
Scodwell attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston on a Downbeat Magazine scholarship. He left school in 1962 to join the Stan Kenton Orchestra, and has performed since then with such stars and organizations as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Frank Sinatra Jr., Jimmy Dorsey Band, Harry James’ Las Vegas Band, Buddy Rich, Harrah’s Club, Caesar’s Palace and many more. He has also performed with Sinatra, Bennett, Davis, Jones, Diana Ross, Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret and Roy Clark.
Yates is manager of the Heritage of America Band at Langley AFB in Virginia. He holds a B.S. in music education from Northwest Missouri State University and an M.A. in trumpet performance/pedagogy from Webster University, and entered the U.S. Air Force in 1980, serving assignments at bases in California, Illinois, Nebraska and Japan. He has performed with the Omaha (Neb.) Symphony, Opera and Big Band, as well as Crystal Gayle, Mary Wilson and the Supremes, Sinatra Jr., The Temptations, The Four Tops and Bobby Vinton.
Dise has been bass trombonist of the Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra since 1999. He was also bass trombonist for the Lincoln (Neb.) Symphony Orchestra and performed frequently with the Omaha Symphony, Opera and Big Band. He was second trombonist for the Boulder (Colo.) Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985-86 and bass trombonist of the 504th U.S. Air Force Band at Travis AFB in California from 1980-84. He is a graduate of Wichita (Kan.) State University.
The ETSU Jazz Program in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music offers courses in large and small jazz ensemble, history of jazz, jazz improvisation and theory, jazz pedagogy and applied study. Faculty include director Dr. David Champouillon, Dr. Rande Sanderbeck, Dave Bubsey and Martin Walters.
The ETSU Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo are comprised of student musicians dedicated to large and small ensemble jazz and improvisation and perform literature from all styles of jazz, from straight ahead to bebop to Latin to blues and rock. The Jazz Ensemble has performed in concert with such notable artists as Maynard Ferguson, Jon Faddis, Vince DiMartino, Ron Modell, Al Hood, Marvin Stamm, Bill Mays, Rufus Reid, Ed Soph, Vaughn Nark, Pete BarenBregge, Ed Shaughnessy and Lenore Raphael.
Tickets to the Tri-Cities Jazz Fest are $10 for general admission and $20 for VIP tickets, which include reserved seating and an artists’ reception, and will be available in advance and at the door.
For advance tickets or more information, call the ETSU Department of Music at (423) 439-4276.

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