Third Annual Gene Yevich Memorial Concert to Feature Wycliffe Gordon Quintet

The Wycliffe Gordon Quintet will headline the third annual Gene Yevich Memorial Concert. Presented on Sunday, Feb. 20, free of charge and open to the public, the concert is sponsored by former Scranton mayor Dave Wenzel and his wife Janet. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in The University of Scranton’s Houlihan-McLean Center.

The concert honors the late Gene Yevich, who served as fire chief for the city of Scranton during Wenzel’s administration. Yevich, who passed away in 2005, served with the Scranton Fire Department for decades before retiring in 1989. He was also a popular and talented local musician, and had many close connections to the University. He was married for almost 50 years to the former Julia Pucher, with whom he had three children, University graduates Michael Yevich and Cynthia Yevich, and The University of Scranton’s Director of Performance Music Cheryl Yevich Boga. His granddaughter, Magdalyn Boga, who earned a master’s degree from the University, is a member of the History Department faculty at Scranton, and his grandson, Joseph Boga – a trumpeter in Mr. Gordon’s ensemble – will serve as an artist-in-residence for this summer’s inaugural Scranton Brass Orchestra and Seminar at the University.

In addition to Gordon and Boga, other members of the quintet are Aaron Diehl,  piano; Corcoran Holt, bass; and Alvin Atkinson, drums.

An award-winning trombonist and frequent performer at Scranton, Gordon received an honorary doctorate from The University of Scranton in 2006. The founder and leader of the quintet bearing his name, he is also a gifted composer and arranger, and an outstanding music educator. His career has brought him into contact with many of the world’s greatest musicians and Gordon has recorded 15 solo CDs and seven co-leader CDs. His latest release, “Cone and T-Staff,” features renowned trumpeter Terell Stafford. A veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Gordon now tours regularly as a solo artist and as leader of the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet and Quintet.

Currently serving on the faculty of the Jazz Arts Program at the Manhattan School of Music, Gordon has received numerous awards for his trombone playing including the Jazz Journalists Association Award for Trombonist of the Year in 2008, 2007, 2006, 2002 and 2001. He is the youngest member of the U.S. Statesmen of Jazz and a musical ambassador for the U.S. State Department. Gordon has also made several television appearances, including the Grammy Awards and Ken Burns’s documentary “Jazz.”

Gordon’s compositions have been performed throughout the United States and abroad by ensembles such as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Brass Band of Battle Creek.

            For additional information on this event, call 941-7624 or visit www.scranton.edu/music.