Lamar University
Cardinal Jazz Orchestra
Beaumont, Texas, USA
JAZZ-ology
California, USA
Concert dates
BARCELONA
Sunday, May 19
Sants Teatre
C/ d'Antoni de Capmany, 72, 08014 Barcelona
18:00h
ALICANTE
Tuesday, May 21
Teatre Arniches
Av. de Aguilera, 1, 03007 Alicante
19:30h
SANTA POLA
Wednesday, May 22
Castillo Fortaleza De Santa Pola,
Alicante, Castillo
Plaça de la Glorieta, s/n, 03130 Santa Pola, Alicante
20:00h
LLIRIA
Thursday, May 23
Teatre dels Jubilats
Carrer de Sant Francesc, 38, 46160 Llíria, Valencia
Centre Cultural Cristóbal Soler, Alcasser
UJI Paraninf, Castellón
20:00h
ALCASSER
Friday, May 24
Centre Cultural Cristóbal Soler,
Carrer Dionís Chanza, 14, 46290 Alcàsser, Valencia
20:00h
CASTELLON
Saturday, May 25
Universitat Jaume I
12006, Castellón
With Special Guests - Castellón Big bands - Paraninf UJI
18:00h
Cardinal jazz orchestra
The Lamar University Cardinal Jazz Orchestra provides students with the opportunity to develop skills in playing the varying styles of jazz and commercial music encountered by today’s working musician and educator, as well as a platform that encourages the development of skills in improvisation.
Recent guest artists and clinicians have included The Yellowjackets, Eric Marienthal, Allen Vizzutti, Jeff Coffin, Kris Berg and the Metroplexity Big Band, Tom “Bones” Malone, Peter Erskine, Ingrid Jensen, and Bobby Sanabria.
DIRECTOR
Richard Condit
Professor of Music
Director of Jazz Ensembles
In over four decades as a professional musician, Rick Condit has taught and performed in 25 countries on five continents. As a member of the first Monterey Jazz Festival All Star High School Band, tenor sax soloist with the legendary Stan Kenton Orchestra of the 70’s, UNT One O’Clock Lab Band, a Fulbright Senior Scholar, and Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassador, Rick has dedicated his career to performing, mentoring, and helping young musicians appreciate and enjoy America’s original art form – Jazz.
Rick is currently Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Ensembles at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He has recently performed with such noted artists as Eric Marienthal, Jeff Coffin, Bobby Shew, Ingrid Jensen, Tom “Bones” Malone, Tom Scott, John Pizzarelli, Joey DeFrancesco, Bobby Sanabria, Wycliffe Gordon, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and The Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra. He has also presented clinics at the Jazz Education Network and Texas Music Educators Association conventions. He is an endorsing artist for Selmer Paris Saxophones, Jody Jazz Mouthpieces, and D’Addario Woodwinds.
JAZZ-ology
Ten members, powerful voices, exciting instrumentals, rich harmonies…this is JAZZ-ology. Each member, a soloist in their own right, bringing unique and evocative gifts.
In 2011, the jazz vocal ensemble, JAZZ-ology was formed by director, Dr. Stephanie Austin. Her vision? A 4-to-10-piece innovative ensemble collaboration between vocalists and instrumentalists. The musicians are versatile in various styles, and are strong soloists as well as ensemble members. JAZZ-ology performs extensively, singing challenging jazz vocal literature, both published and commissioned.
Award-winning, the group won DownBeat Magazine’s 2018 and 2017 First Place National Music award in its category, DownBeat’s “Outstanding Performance” in 2020, 2019, 2016, 2015, and 2014, won Category Award from the Reno Jazz Festival, and was a national finalist in the Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation Competition 2017, 2014 and 2013. In 2018, the group played to a standing-ovation full house at Club Bonafide in Manhattan, New York, and in June 2019 they toured France, performing five shows in Grenoble, Chambéry, Lyon, Le Mont du Chat, and Paris, and receiving encores and glowing press reviews. The French jazz clubs have invited the group back to their venues, thus generating another JAZZ-ology concert tour in France in June 2022.
JAZZ-ology released their first CD, Starting Here, Starting Now, in 2013, which was followed by On a Clear Day in 2015. Their third CD, Get Out of Town, was released in 2017 and their fourth CD, Feelin’ Good, was released in 2019. JAZZ-ology’s fifth CD, All I Wanna Do, was released in 2021, and their newest CD, Tell it All, released in May 2023. All six CDs are available for preview and purchase on iTunes and Amazon. (Click on the CD images on the Home page and the Discography & Store page of this web site.)
Whether JAZZ-ology members perform as soloists or combine their talents, their music touches emotions. The group is available for concerts, corporate events, parties, wine-tastings, banquets, weddings, and more. Instrumentation is vocal, either a cappella or accompanied by keyboard, bass, and drums, and can be tailored to the needs of the event.
DIRECTOR
Stephanie Austin Letson
Director
Stephanie Austin Letson is a jazz vocalist who has performed in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Paris, and New Orleans. She has also founded, and performed with, two professional jazz vocal quartets, InFusion and LesQuatre.
Austin Letson is Director of the nationally award-winning Jazz Vocal Ensembles at Contra Costa College. Her ensembles have won nine national Student Music Awards from DownBeat Magazine, and been named five times top six national finalist for the Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation Competition.