The Window: Eight New Songs for Voice and Jazz Combo" featuring the Kim Portnoy Ensemble

What/Who:

"The Window:  Eight New Songs for Voice and Jazz Combo," a new jazz song cycle by Kim Portnoy featuring the poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson set to the Brazilian rhythms of samba, choro, afoxe´and bossa nova. The ensemble features Paul DeMarinis on saxophone; Kim Portnoy, piano; Steve Schenkel, guitar; Ric Vice, bass; Clarence Newell, drums and Webster University student Peter Ayres on vocals.

When:

Monday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m.

Where:

Winifred Moore Auditorium, Webster University, 470 E. Lockwood Ave.

Cost:

$5 general admission, $3 seniors and free to students with school ID

More Info:

Call the Fine Arts Hotline at 314-968-7128, or 968-7032.

Kim Portnoy is recognized as a versatile composer in classical and jazz idioms. He has received commissions from numerous institutions, including the Arts & Education Council, the McDonnell Planetarium, Temple Emanuel, the Parkway School District, Trinity Episcopal Church and the Missouri Arts Council. The St. Louis Children’s Choirs, The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Space Coast Philharmonic and others have performed his compositions and arrangements. His composition, most this amazing day, ten songs on texts by e. e. cummings was performed by the Webster Jazz Singers at the 2000 International Association of Jazz Educators Convention in New Orleans. The Webster University Symphony Orchestra recently premiered Portnoy's Bluework, a concerto for piano and orchestra with pianist Carolbeth True as soloist.

Portnoy has also appeared on recordings including “The Keys to the City” by Jay Hungerford and “All in Good Time” with Asa Harris. One of Portnoy’s songs, sitting in a tree, can be heard on singer Christine Hitt’s album "You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To." The album "Wash Away the Dust of Everyday Life," released in 1998, features the Kim Portnoy Jazz Orchestra performing his works.

Kim Portnoy received the Bachelor’s and Masters degrees in Composition from Washington University.

Professor Portnoy teaches classes at Webster University in jazz theory, composition and orchestration. He performs with the Webster Faculty Jazz Ensemble and frequently as a pianist with his own trio and big band.

A compact disc recorded by Portnoy’s trio, Brand New Day, was issued in 2004.

###