Happening Now

Press Release and Photos Issued by JSU


One of the world’s best jazz drummers, Jeff “Tain” Watts, will perform at JSU on April 5 as part of the 8th Annual Jazz Festival. The event is free and open to the public.

The six-time Grammy winner and Guggenheim Fellow has served as a musician on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and starred in Spike Lee’s “Mo’ Better Blues.” He will join the JSU Jazz Ensemble I on stage at noon in Leone Cole Auditorium before leading a guest workshop with JSU jazz faculty at 1 p.m. JSU and high school jazz ensembles will also play throughout the day in Leone Cole Auditorium.

Jazz Festival Schedule:

8 a.m. – JSU Jazz Ensemble III
8:45 a.m. – Hokes Bluff High School
9:30 a.m. – Tuscaloosa County High School
10:15 a.m. – Chattanooga Central High School
11 a.m. – JSU Latin Ensemble
12 p.m. – Jeff “Tain” Watts and JSU Jazz Ensemble I
1 p.m. – Clinic/Workshop with Jeff “Tain” Watts and JSU Jazz Faculty
2:15 p.m. – Baker High School I
3 p.m. – Guntersville High School
3:45 p.m. – Baker High School
4:30 p.m. – JSU Jazz Ensemble II

This event has been made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, contact Dr. Andy Nevala, Director of Jazz Studies, at [email protected].