MARCH 29, 2019 MIRIAM A. FRIEDBERG HALL Sean Jones, trumpet Warren Wolf, vibraphone Nasar Abadey, drums Kris Funn, bass Gavin Horning, guitar Robert Gilliam, tenor saxophone Lawrence Hutfles, bass Music and spirituality have always been fully intertwined in the artistic vision of trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and activist Sean Jones. Singing and performing as a child with the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, Sean switched from the drums to the trumpet at the age of ten. Sean is a musical chameleon and is comfortable in any musical setting no matter what the role or the genre. He is equally adept in being a member of an ensemble as he is at being a bandleader. Sean turned a 6-month stint with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra into an offer from Wynton Marsalis for a permanent position as lead trumpeter, a post he held from 2004 until 2010. In 2015 Jones was tapped to become a member of the SFJAZZ Collective. During this time, Sean has managed to keep a core group of talented musicians together under his leadership forming the foundation for his groups that have produced and released eight recordings on the Mack Avenue Records, the latest is his 2017 release Sean Jones: Live from the Jazz Bistro. Sean has been prominently featured with a number of artists, recording and/or performing with many major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Wilson and Marcus Miller. Sean was selected by Miller, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter for their Tribute to Miles tour in 2011. He has also performed with the Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Youngstown Symphony Orchestras as well as Soulful Symphony in Baltimore and in a chamber group at the Salt Bay Chamber Festival. Sean is also an internationally recognized educator. He was recently named the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair of Jazz at John Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Before coming to Peabody, Sean served as the Chair of the Brass Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, Maryland. From the age of three, Warren was trained on the vibraphone, drums, and piano—under the guidance of his father Warren Wolf Sr. Warren attended Peabody Preparatory—studying classical music with Leo LePage. Then with John Locke at Baltimore School for the Arts for his high school years. Warren also attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. During his time at Berklee, Warren studied with Caribbean jazz vibraphonist Dave Samuels. After graduating from Berklee in May of 2001, Warren became an active musician on the Boston scene—also teaching at Berklee College of Music. Warren, today, living in Baltimore, is an International touring musician and music professor both at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and at San Francisco Conservatory. Warren has performed throughout the United States of America, South America, Canada, Italy, Spain, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Scotland, London, Greece, Singapore, Thailand, Jarkata, Bangkok, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow and many other countries. Warren has made several recordings as a leader and as sideman for Mack Ave Records, Blue Note Records and boutique Independent Jazz Record Labels. Musicians that Warren has performed or recorded with are Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Jeremy Pelt, Nicholas Payton, Tim Warfield, Adonis Rose, Donal Fox, Anthony Wonsey, Aaron Goldberg, Cyrus Chestnut, Lewis Nash, Willie Jones, Eric Reed, Mulgrew Miller, Terri Lyne Carrington, Yoron Israel, Larry Willis, David “Fathead” Newman, Stefon Harris, Reuben Rogers, Kevin Eubanks, Curtis Lundy, Steve Davis, Duane Eubanks, Ron Carter, Wycliffe Gordon, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spaulding and many others.
SPONSORED BY THE HAROLD, ESTELLE The use of cameras and audio/video recorders without the express AND LEHR GORDON FUND prior written permission of Peabody is strictly prohibited. Drummer, Nasar Abadey is the founder, leader and driving force of his performing ensembles including SUPERNOVA®; the SUPERNOVA® Chamber Orchestra; Renaissance Trio; Washington Renaissance Orchestra and others. Each configuration performs music from the threshold of Jazz to beyond space and time, through traditional African rhythms, bebop, fusion, and free form. Abadey’s performance credits include many of the jazz greats of today and yesterday including but not limited to Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Pharoah Sanders and has recorded and/or performed with many national artists throughout his career. Mr. Abadey was selected for various honors and awards for merit and composition, and has served as a Music Panelist for DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, respectively.
In 2018 the DC Jazz Festival presented Nasar Abadey with a Lifetime Achievement award at the Kennedy Center, and in September, 2017 the UBC organization presented Mr. Abadey with the John Coltrane Black Classical Music, Living Legends in Music and Culture Award. The Capital Hill Jazz Foundation honored him with the Jazz Leadership and Service Award; and the DC Legendary Musicians awarded him with the Community Service Award, both in 2017. Currently, and for the past Thirteen (13) years, Mr. Abadey is a Professor of Jazz Percussion in the Jazz Studies Department of the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
An internationally acclaimed double bassist, Kris Funn, has performed at major jazz festivals and venues across the globe. He has toured with artists such as Kenny Garrett, Kamasi Washington, Nicholas Payton, Benny Golson, Jeff Lorber, Pharoah Sanders, Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, Joey Alexander, and Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah among others. He appears on several recordings including the 2019 Grammy nominated album, “The Emancipation Procrastination” by Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah. As a composer, Funn’s work has appeared in documentaries, commercial campaigns and as the theme music for The New Yorker’s Poetry Podcast. His band, Cornerstore , was the 2018 winner of the DC Jazz Fest Grand Prix and a 2018 Maryland State Arts Council grant winner for composition.
Kris Funn is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a graduate of Howard University. He is currently a member of the Peabody Institute Jazz Faculty.
Born May 28th 1995, Gavin Horning is a guitarist, arranger, and composer originally from Elizabethtown in Lancaster County Pennsylvania and currently living in Baltimore, MD and Elizabethtown, PA. At the age of 20 Gavin performed in concert with former Earth Wind and Fire saxophonist/flautist, Ronnie Laws. He has gone on to perform with artists such as, Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners, Eddie Baccus Jr, Dwayne Dolphin, Harold Betters, Steve Rudolph, The Boilermaker Jazz Band, Eric Defade, Paul Bratcher, John Hall, Jeff Bush, Paul Thompson, the Mike Tomaro Sextet, the Joe Negri Quartet, and others. He is an Artist/Educator in the Central PA Friends of Jazz Camp at Messiah College upcoming in June 2019 featuring guest artist Sean Jones. Gavin is a 2017 graduate of Duquesne University and is currently in graduate studies on full scholarship at the Peabody Conservatory where he serves as the Graduate Assistant to Sean Jones and the reinvented Peabody Jazz Department. Gavin has studied with Joe Negri, Mark Koch, Josh Tindall, and Mike Tomaro, additional studies with Jeff Bush, and Mike Stern. He is currently studying with Matthew Stevens, Warren Wolf, and Sean Jones.
Robert Gilliam is a Dallas-born multi-instrumentalist currently studying jazz saxophone at Peabody Conservatory. He Began playing cello in the fifth grade and picked up saxophone late freshman year of high school. He has been on tour with both Bobby Watson and Bobby Broom on the Thelonious Monk Peer to Peer Tours, as well participating in the Monterey Jazz Festival award winning “Booker T. Washington HSPVA Jazz Combo,” as well as many other playing/competitive opportunities. Robert aspires to be a renowned composer and jazz musician, and to inspire the next generation of up and coming artists.
Lawrence Hutfles is a Third Year Jazz Bassist at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Though classically trained for many years, Lawrence was always drawn to the freedom of expression that Jazz offered. He spent his first year at Peabody in the Classical Bass department before transferring to Jazz and is now studying under Kris Funn. Lawrence is originally from Michigan and is an Interlochen Alumni.