KINGSTON, R.I. –September 26, 2013 – The University of Rhode Island Music Department will end the month of September with two high profile performances, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 28-29, in memory of the late Rhode Island musician Ron “Sticks” Stabile. Both events will be held in the URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall at 105 Upper College Road in Kingston, RI.
On Sept. 28 at 8 p.m., Stabile’s friends, colleagues, and students will present an evening of music with free admission to honor his memory. Stabile had been a percussion instructor in the URI Music Department from1987 until his death in 2012. He was a percussionist who performed and taught all over New England and is said to have had a major impact on music education in Rhode Island. For 30 years he was involved in the Rhode Island Music Educators Association.
On Sept. 29 at 3 p.m., the multi-Grammy-winning jazz star Gary Burton brings his quartet to URI for a concert to benefit the Ron Stabile Memorial Percussion Scholarship Fund. Tickets for this special event are $45, $35 and $25 with assigned seating and can be purchased in advance on the URI Music Department website www.uri.edu/music, or as available by cash or check at the door.
Burton is hailed as a pioneer of jazz fusion along with developing his signature four-mallet percussion technique. Primarily self-taught, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and quickly launched his career in the early 1960’s. He worked in Nashville, toured with George Shearing, played with the Stan Getz Quartet, formed his own quartet, and was named Down Beat magazine’s ‘Jazzman of the Year’ in 1968 (the youngest ever to receive the title).
He won his first Grammy in 1972 and has gone on to a total of 21 Grammy nominations and 7 Grammy wins, many of those with pianist Chick Corea, with whom he has teamed for more than 40 years as a jazz duo. He also joined the staff of Berklee College from 1971–2004, first as Professor, then Dean and finally as Executive Vice President during his last decade. Now semi-retired at age 70, Burton has just released his current quartet’s newest CD, and in August released his memoir, titled Learning to Listen.
The URI Concert Hall is handicap-accessible, and parking is available behind the Fine Arts Center, off Bills Road. Please call 401-874-5955 for more information or visit the URI Music Department website for advance tickets or information, www.uri.edu/music.