Saxophone player Mike Grenier calls the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival the place “where jazz greats like John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong blew the world’s minds with innovative and brilliant music.” The rising junior will get his chance to perform on that iconic stage on August 1 when the URI Big Band makes its second consecutive appearance at the first and best known jazz festival in the world. It’s an opportunity that Mike says is “one of the pinnacles of a jazz musician’s career.”
Every August the Newport festival draws thousands of jazz fans from all over the world. And URI’s return engagement for the festival’s 60th anniversary is a testament to the success of the jazz studies program, which was launched about a decade ago. Jared Sims, the director of the URI Big Band, said festival organizer George Wein was thrilled with the group’s performance last year. “We’ve cultivated a methodology for learning jazz in which students study the style and language of the music and refine their skills, which is in line with George’s vision,” said Professor Sims.
Mike Grenier was attracted to the URI music program because he can get ‘top-of-the-line instruction from renowned professors at an intimate and individual level.’
A music performance major, Mike was attracted to the URI music program not for the opportunity to perform at Newport but because he can get “top-of-the-line instruction from renowned professors at an intimate and individual level.” He especially likes that the jazz professors – like Sims, Joe Parillo, Dave Zinno, Eric Hofbauer, Steve Langone and Mark Berney – not only teach but are actively pursuing performance careers of their own, keeping up with the new trends in music and collaborating with well-established orchestras around the region. The gig at the Newport Jazz Festival is just gravy.
For trumpeter Manny Morales, who played at Newport with last year’s Big Band, it will be difficult to match the experience of his first Newport festival performance. He said he still gets chills thinking about the atmosphere of the event, where his idols Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Clark Terry and Paul Chambers played. “When we got onstage, the atmosphere was so friendly and welcoming, you could just feel the positive vibes of the audience,” said Manny, a rising junior who plans on a career in music therapy. This year’s band includes some of his best friends, so he is especially looking forward to sharing the experience with them.
Surprisingly, neither Manny nor Mike claim they are particularly nervous about performing at such a prestigious venue. “Naturally, I’m sure I’ll get the famed butterflies on the day of the festival, after I’ve seen the brilliant musicians of the day,” Mike admitted, “but for now the event seems just distant enough that I can be more focused on building my skills now so I can put forth the best music I can.”
If you’ve got the chops, maybe you can take the stage with them next time.