Sunday, October 8, 2023 | 2pm
First Unitarian Church (536 Linton St, Cincinnati, OH 45219)
JAZZ@FIRST: MELODIOUS MONK FEATURING KIM PENSYL
Our Jazz@First series kicks off with the amazing Kim Pensyl joining the Phil DeGreg Trio on trumpet and flugelhorn for an afternoon of melodic music! Hear tunes by the incomparable Thelonious Monk in a new way as the ensemble performs music from their album entitled Melodious Monk.
Complimentary wine and cheese at intermission are included with your ticket.
Jazz@First Series Sponsor: Al Harris
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About the Artist: Kim Pensyl, trumpet
Kim Pensyl is a prolific jazz recording artist, composer and arranger who has twice been named one of Billboard’s Top-20 Contemporary Jazz Artists of the Year. A pianist and trumpeter, he has had four Top-10 albums on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart. He has recorded with jazz legends such as Toots Thielemans, and modern greats like Joey Calderazzo and Bob Mintzer. He has performed at such esteemed jazz venues as The Blue Note and Blues Alley and toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra and Acoustic Alchemy. He has more than 100 published works recorded and over 150 compositions and arrangements in his catalog.
Kim performs around Cincinnati and Central Ohio in various groups. In addition to his trombone and piano composition which premiered in the fall of 2010, Kim has had two other premieres. His work has premiered at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference in Georgia and a new three-movement brass quintet was premiered at the International Trumpet Guild conference in Sydney, Australia in July of 2010. Kim is professor of jazz studies at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Kim Pensyl and Phil DeGreg’s recording Melodious Monk was released in April 2011 on Summit Records.
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About the Artist: Phil DeGreg
Phil DeGreg began playing the piano in his childhood and now performs as a jazz pianist internationally. His earliest jazz influences were Bud Powell and Bill Evans, but he is accomplished and comfortable in a wide range of jazz styles, ranging from mainstream to bebop to Brazilian jazz. A graduate of Yale and the University of North Texas, he toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra in the 1980s and has 10 CDs to his credit as a leader. For 13 years he accompanied many national and international jazz artists in the house trio in Cincinnati’s famous Blue Wisp Jazz Club. He has been on staff with the renowned Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops since 1983, and has performed and taught in Europe and South America.
Phil DeGreg is the retired Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts study grants. In 2008 he was awarded a 4-month Fulbright Fellowship as a lecturer in Brazil.
His text “Jazz Keyboard Harmony” is a practical text for teaching jazz harmony for all musicians, and is used all over the world in universities and for private study.
Learn more about Phil DeGreg on his website http://phildegreg.com.
