UIC Jazz Festival Features Harmonica Virtuoso

UIC’s High School Jazz Festival showcases young talent, but this year it will top off the Feb. 27 all-day event with an evening concert featuring a 2012 Grammy winner.

Howard Levy, jazz harmonica virtuoso and pianist, will perform at 7 p.m. in the Illinois Room, Student Center East. The concert will open with the UIC Jazz Faculty Combo, followed by Levy playing with the UIC Jazz Ensemble, a 17-piece student band.

Levy won a Grammy for best instrumental composition “Life in Eleven,” written with renowned jazz banjo player Bela Fleck.

The UIC Jazz Faculty Combo, Student Combo and Jazz Ensemble will perform a free concert at midday during the festival.

From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., high school bands will perform and be critiqued by noted jazz faculty artists, including Ernie Adams, Patricia Barber, Ari Brown, Orbert Davis, Stewart Miller, Peter Stoltzman, and Zvonimir Tot.

The festival has grown to include 16 Chicago-area bands this year, ranging from combos to big bands.

Tickets to the evening concert are $10 for the general public; $7 with student ID. Tickets are available online at theatreandmusic.aa.uic.edu/ or at the door (cash or check only). For information, please call (312) 996-6068.