GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHY & PERSONNEL Durham, New Hampshire. A native of Bloomington, IN, Rachel‟s compelling improvisation skills developed out of her many years of instrumental jazz studies on piano and as a cellist under IU Distinguished Professor David Baker. A student of Baker‟s from age 13, Caswell continued her studies at Indiana University‟s Jacobs School of Music graduating with High Distinction in 1995 with degrees in classical cello and jazz studies. In 1998 she completed her Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies in Voice Boston‟s New England Conservatory of Music. While in graduate school, Rachel was chosen as one of two vocalists for the 1997 Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony at Jazz Aspen/ Snowmass and named the winner of the 1997 Hilton Head Jazz Society Scholarship. Rachel also placed in the top ten out of 150 contestants in the 2005 jazzconnect.com annual vocal competition, appearing in one judge‟s top five. Rachel was filmed as the featured vocalist in John McNeil‟s Jazz Series on Video, Vol. 3 Vocal Jazz: Learning to Scat with Mr. McNeil as trumpeter/host and Rufus Reid on bass. Rachel‟s unique gifts as COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS a musician and improviser have led jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen to say, “Very rarely does such a complete musician come along in the form of a singer! Rachel and her voice are capable of expression and artistry that parallel those of some of the great horn players in improvised jazz music...” School of Music JAZZ ENSEMBLE III SAXOPHONE TRUMPET TROMBONE BASS Steven Moeller Connor Freimuth Kyle Jones Dan Sitler Ethan Crenshaw Connor Fox Michel Culross Sam Lock Demetrius Peoples Lindsay Baker DRUMS Emily Miller Chris Cheever Austin Hamang Nick Hammer THE ART OF JAZZ SERIES Nolan Leahy D‟Quan Rogers PIANO twenty-ninth season Kelsey Georgesen Presents STUDIO JAZZ ENSEMBLE II SAXOPHONE TRUMPET TROMBONE BASS Tim Hoblin Brett Affolder Kohl Slabaugh Dustin Palmer Luke Fries Brandon Hazelbaker Zach Whitacre James Ryan Jay Higginson David Rohrer DRUMS GUEST ARTISTS Thomas Lucas Amelia Scanland Holden Berlin Alex Balestra Andrew Campbell Sara Caswell, violin HORN PIANO VIBES/BELLS Matt Ertl Brandon Downing Nick Hammer Rachel Caswell, vocalist Jordan Miller GUITAR Zach Day JAZZ LAB ENSEMBLE I SAXOPHONE TRUMPET TROMBONE PIANO BALL STATE JAZZ ENSEMBLES Cecily Terhune Sam Brock Dominic Gaietto Jon Nelson Brian Bosley Jen Siukola David Daily Mark Buselli, director James Middleton Adam Marchand Dan Smith GUITAR John Horgeshimer Alec Burke Daniel Payton Sam Gordon Kaleigh Wilder VIOLIN BASS Gina Buzzelli Jesse Gaze DRUMS Danny Yount Wednesday, April 15, 2015 | 7:30 p.m. | SURSA HALL PROGRAM GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Sara Caswell is fast becoming one of today‟s foremost jazz violinists through her technical JAZZ ENSEMBLE III facility and gift for lyricism. Recognized as a “Rising Star” in both the 2013 and 2014 Jess Gaze, director DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll and as one of the top jazz violinists in both the 2011 and 2012 JazzTimes Readers‟ Poll, Sara leads two groups (the Sara Caswell Quartet and the Program will contain selections from the following: Caswell Sisters Quintet), has released two highly-acclaimed CDs (First Song and But Beautiful), and in 2013 released a new CD with her sister, jazz vocalist Rachel Caswell, Al Kiger Heart of Mine entitled Alive in the Singing Air featuring jazz pianist Fred Hersch. Additionally, Sara Kenbrovin/Kellette I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles regularly performs with Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Roseanna Vitro, mandolinist Joe Brent‟s 9 Horses, clarinetist David Krakauer‟s The Big Picture, and the genre-defying quartet Rose & the Nightingale. During 2010-11, she toured five continents with 3-time Grammy-winning bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding in support of Spalding‟s CD Chamber STUDIO JAZZ ENSEMBLE II Music Society. Sara has also toured with Grammy-winning violinist Mark O‟Connor„s Scott Routenberg, director American String Celebration and violinist Darol Anger‟s Four Generations of Jazz Violin, soloed numerous times in Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra, and performed or recorded with such artists as Regina Carter, Gene Bertoncini, Alan Ferber, Oscar Penas, Program will contain selections from the following: Ike Sturm, Fabian Almazan, Nadje Noordhuis, Lynne Arriale, Charlie Byrd, and Skitch Henderson. Sara‟s formidable teaching experience includes the Manhattan School of Music Howard Levy One For McCoy College and Precollege Divisions, the Mark O‟Connor String Camps, the Jamey Aebersold Arr. Scott Routenberg Summer Jazz Workshops, the Indiana University String Academy, and a private studio. She has also given numerous jazz string improvisation workshops and masterclasses and is Horace Silver Strollin’ involved with JEN (Jazz Education Network), MENC (National Association of Music Arr. Rob McConnell Education), and ASTA (American String Teachers Association). Raised in a musical family, Sara began playing violin at age 5, studied with two legendary giants (Josef Gingold ~ Frank Mantooth Take Only for Pain classical, David Baker ~ jazz), made her orchestral debut at 15, earned degrees from Indiana University and Manhattan School of Music, and amassed over 100 awards in the jazz and classical competition worlds. Jazz educator, author, and critic Dr. Herb Wong says: “A gifted starbright talent of the first magnitude, Sara is a top tier member of the young JAZZ LAB ENSEMBLE I generation of major voices.” Mark Buselli, director Jazz Vocalist Rachel Caswell is an award-winning jazz vocalist with a unique style Program will contain selections from the following: combining extraordinary scatting ability and sensitive song interpretation. According to internationally-renowned jazz pedagogue David Baker, “Rachel Caswell is that rara avis who is truly a jazz vocalist. Her intonation is impeccable, her diction precise, her jazz Oliver Nelson Hoe Down sensibilities above reproach, and she swings like mad!” All these qualities can be heard on Johnny Burke/ But Beautiful her debut CD Some Other Time with pianist Lynne Arriale, drummer Steve Davis, bassist Kelly Sill, and violinist Sara Caswell. Rachel and her sister Sara co-lead the Caswell Sisters Jimmy van Heusen Quintet, which has recorded a soon-to-be released CD project with acclaimed pianist Fred Arr. Michael Patterson Hersch. Notable appearances of the Caswell Sisters include a weeklong After-Hours engagement at Dizzy‟s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and an enthusiastically- Hoagy Carmichael I Get Along Without You Very Well received set on the opening night concert of the 2010 inaugural Jazz Education Network Arr. Alan Ferber Conference in St. Louis. Rachel also frequently collaborates with bassist Jeremy Allen, a duo selected to perform at the 2006 International Association for Jazz Education‟s Annual Nancy King I Sing For You Conference in New York. Other notables with whom Rachel has performed include The Arr. Alan Ferber Glenn Miller Orchestra, John Blake, Jr., Ingrid Jensen, the Billy Taylor Trio, and Curtis Fuller. In addition to Dizzy‟s Club Coca-Cola, Rachel has appeared at the Blue Wisp Jazz Walter Hirsch/ Deed I Do Club in Cincinnati, OH, Cornelia Street Café in New York, NY, the Jazz Cabaret Series at Fred Rose the Kentucky Center of the Arts in Louisville, KY, colleges and universities including Arr. Count Basie Temple University, University of Denver, Vassar College, Depauw University, Hope College, University of Evansville, Eastern Illinois University, West Virginia State University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Indiana State University, as well as Series LXIX- Number 217 In keeping with copyright and artist agreements, use of recording with big bands in Fargo, ND and Minneapolis, MN, the latter with charts commissioned by and photographic devices is not permitted by other than approved university personnel. Food and the Caswell Sisters. Rachel‟s pedagogical experience includes jazz-related masterclasses and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. We request your cooperation. clinics at numerous colleges and universities nationwide, most recently serving as a judge www.bsu.edu and clinician at the University of New Hampshire for the 2011 Clark Terry Jazz Festival in .