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Dec. 5, 2006

Contact: Sally Corbett, sacorbe@emory.edu, 404-727-6678

Emory Music Faculty Offer Various New Releases

The Atlanta Jazz Chorus, directed by Dwight Andrews, perform in concert on December 9 at 7:00 pm at the Rialto Center for Performing Arts.

Release written by Gina Atwater

Faculty members of Emory University’s Music Department are actively contributing to American music literature as both composers and musicians. John Anthony Lennon, Timothy Albrecht, Gary Motley, and Dwight Andrews have all recently released CDs of original music as composers and/or performers.

John Anthony Lennon, professor of composition and director of graduate studies, presents “Player’s Fair,” featuring music composed by him and performed by renowned guitarist Daniel Stanislawek. “What draws me to Daniel Stanislawek's exquisite performing ability is his intuition to play what I am hearing despite the limitations of a notation system that leaves color and nuance at liberty,” says Lennon. The CD is a compilation of music he has composed for the guitar over several decades. Each song explores a different musical idea, while allowing the unique construction of the guitar to guide its message. Although this latest offering features works for guitar, Lennon has also composed for voice, piano, strings, winds and orchestra. He has been commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Theatre Chamber Players, the Library of Congress, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the National Endowment for the Arts Orchestral Consortium and the Fromm Foundation. He has also held numerous fellowships and won several prizes, including the Guggenheim. Listeners wanting more information on this accomplished composer can visit www.johnanthonylennon.com.

Like Lennon, Timothy Albrecht has created exciting compositions on his instrument of choice, the organ. Albrecht — Emory University Organist, professor of church music, and professor of music — releases a new CD titled “Bach Live!” featuring his live and unedited concert of Bach on Emory University’s Jaeckel Op. 45, a pipe organ developed with Bach’s literature in mind. Past releases include “Grace Notes” and “Grace Notes, Too!,” both of which apply improvisation and compositional innovation to popular hymns. In this latest offering, Albrecht does not compose his own work but breathes new life into the timeless Bach repertoire. “A ‘live recording’ CD offers something unique, something impossible to achieve in a cleaned-up, spliced studio recording,” he says. “The thrill of audibly experiencing the ‘real time’ interaction between ‘music makers’ (performer, music and medium) and ‘music receivers’ (audience) is definitely a large component in what makes this whole venture what it is.” Albrecht graduated from Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin College, and Eastman School of Music; Cambridge University conferred on him Life Membership. He has performed for both Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. Anyone wanting to purchase the “Bach Live!” CD can contact Koch Templeton Concert Management at libmet@emory.edu.

Jazz pianist and composer Gary Motley, Emory’s director of jazz studies, released his own CD, “Everything I Love,” in May 2005 and contributes to “Where Land Meets Sky” from ROA Jazz Vespers, a selection of jazz standards and sacred melodies taken from the ROA Jazz Vespers Services. The recording features Motley, vocalist Veronica Motley, trumpeter Gordon Vernick, saxophonist EJ Hughes, bassist Neal Starkey, drummer Clay Hulet and special guest, saxophonist Victor Goines. Motley’s “Everything I Love” unites him with bassist Paul Keller and drummer Pete Siers, and features vocalist Veronica Motley. Chosen as the “Critics’ Choice” for Best Local Jazz Pianist by Creative Loafing in 2003, Motley attended the University of Montevello and Georgia State University. Those interested in purchasing a copy of either of Motley’s CDs or learning more about his calendar and recording career can visit www.garymotleymusic.com.

Dwight Andrews shares Motley’s passion for jazz, as evidenced by their working together to create vocal arrangements for the Atlanta Jazz Chorus. Associate professor of music theory and African American music, Andrews is also senior minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta. In 1998 he formed the Atlanta Jazz Chorus, a group whose mission is to perform the sacred works of famous jazz masters such as Duke Ellington and to bring out spiritual aspects, ideas and issues in public performances. The group — composed of 35 singers from the metro-Atlanta area — has rapidly gained an expansive and dedicated audience base, which created the necessity for having a recording to give to fans. “So many people were saying, ‘Where can I get your CD?’” Andrews says. “Our audiences are so supportive, consistent and large, we needed a permanent record to bring with us.” Performing extensively on jazz pianist Geri Allen’s CD titled “Timeless Portraits and Dreams” gave the Atlanta Jazz Singers the opportunity to have a recording readily available for their fans. The group plans to distribute the CD at their upcoming major performances. On December 9 (7 p.m.), they perform a “holiday jazz vespers” concert, taking popular holiday hits and putting them in jazz vespers formats. This performance, at the Rialto Center for Performing Arts, features a special solo segment by Andy Bey, a jazz singer and pianist from New York. The Atlanta Jazz Singers will also perform in January at Emory University for the annual Martin Luther King vespers concert, in addition to performing in the spring at the Washington Cathedral in Washington, DC.

Tickets and information for upcoming performances: 404-727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.

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